City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Allen Brydges has stepped down at Academy Park after five seasons. He confirmed the news to CoBL on Wednesday.

Brydges most recently led the Knights to a 20-8 record and an appearance in the PIAA Class AAAA playoffs. Brydges cited his family as the biggest reason for his decision to step away and called it the “toughest decision he as ever made.” Brydges also noted he is planning to pursue a career in administration (he is currently finishing up a program to get certified as a school administrator) which would also make it difficult for him to coach.

“(My career) was part of it, but the bigger part was my family,” he told CoBL over the phone. “I have three kids and another on the way (due in August). My boys are 7 and 5 and I’m coaching them. And coaching basketball just takes so much time. I’ve always said if I was going to do it, I was going to do it right, and it takes 12 months to run a great program. I just didn’t have the time anymore.”

The Knights went 2-20 in 2010-11, the season before Brydges took over. After combining to go 16-25 in his first two seasons, the Knights finished above .500 in each of Brydges’ final three years, combining to go 52-24 in those three seasons to give him an overall record of 68-49 (.581 winning percentage) at the school.

Brydges, who went to Bonner-Prendergast before playing at Cabrini College, said he knew the turnaround was possible when he took over.

“I knew there was so much talent there,” he said. “It was a great job, I was so excited to get that job. It was my dream job. I grew up near that district. I knew all about it. It took our first two years to build and get them playing the way we wanted.

“We took our lumps and played a lot of young kids. But in the last three years, I don’t think there were too many teams that wanted to play us because we were fast and physical. It was great to turn it around.”

Academy Park’s best season under Brydges was his last. The team was the No. 18 seed in this year’s District 1 playoffs, but the Knights won their first round game and a three playback contests, including wins over Downingtown West and Phoenixville to finish ninth in the district.

Academy Park is now on the search for a new coach to take over a program on the rise, and a roster that features three returning starters, including talented rising sophomore Khyree Temple.

Brydges called leaving after his best season a “double-edged sword.”

“It was great to leave after that success,” he said. “But knowing we have Kyhree who’s just a sophomore and a seventh and eighth grade class that are some of the best I’ve seen, and we have shooters coming back, it made it really, really difficult.”