Boys basketball coach Steve Stokes has been appointed athletic director at Providence, the school announced on Wednesday.
Stokes will be responsible for all middle school and high school teams. He joined the Providence athletics program in 2014-2015 as boys varsity basketball coach.
Steve Stokes is the new athletic director at Providence.
“Providence is a special place where the students get such a unique schooling experience,” Stokes said in a statement. “The school has been rapidly growing and I see our athletic programs growing to elite levels as well.”
Stokes aims to build strong programs at all levels.
”We will focus not just on having great teams, but building great programs — not only at the high school level but also with our middle school and lower school athletic programs.”
In announcing Stokes’ appointment, Chris Rutz, interim head of school, said: ”At Providence, we aspire to build an athletic program to be the best Santa Barbara has to offer. While we expect to win many championships in the years ahead, we are equally concerned with developing athletes who compete with character and integrity. Steve has a vision for this kind of athletic experience and we could not be more excited for the future of Providence athletics.”
While coaching the high school boys basketball team for the past year, Stokes developed positive rapport with the young men playing for him, demonstrating he understands the importance of Providence coaches serving as positive role models and influences in the lives of Providence student-athletes. “So much of building a culture involves building relationships,” he comments, “not just with families in the Santa Barbara community, but also with the student-athletes in our programs. We want to pour into and invest in our coaches to be able to lead our student-athletes to new levels of success.”
Before joining the Patriots coaching staff, Stokes was associate head coach at Royal High (Simi Valley) for four seasons. During those four years, the Royal team experienced the most successful run in school history, reaching the CIF finals two years in a row. He has been coaching high school basketball for the past 12 years, compiling over 250 career wins in the process. Coaching highlights include the two-time CIF Championship Finalist appearances, two State Championship appearances (including an appearance in the 2013 California State Final Four), three-time league “Coach of the Year,” and having his team named LA Times ”Program on the Rise.”
Stokes has developed a reputation in coaching circles as a program builder by leading once struggling programs to new levels of success.
A kinesiology major at California State University, Dominguez Hills, Stokes frequently returns to his alma mater as a special guest lecturer, speaking to undergrad students in the kinesiology department as well as to graduate students getting their master’s degree in coaching education.
As Stokes is fond of saying: ”The future is bright. It’s a great day to be a Patriot!”
