Luther in as GHHS AD
Will continue to coach boys basketball
Granite Hills High School boys varsity head coach Bud Luther has taken on the responsibilities as athletic director for the Grizzlies, replacing Gary Stoddard.
But you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the door of Luther’s new office.
“I don’t know,” joked Luther on Tuesday afternoon. “I think I am but Gary’s name is still on the door.”
Luther took over the position during the offseason when Stoddard retired after seven years. Stoddard had worked at Granite Hills since the school’s inception in 1999.
Still in the process of making the office his own, Luther spoke on how he was excited about taking this next step in his career and how Granite Hills was the perfect place to do so.
“I kind of waited for this because I’m very happy here,” said Luther. “It’s just a really good spot and I’m excited. It’s one of those things where I think it’s the right fit.”
Up for the new challenge Luther said that he’s looking forward to giving students opportunities in sports that were unavailable to them before and a “good experience in athletics.”
“Getting kids experience, helping coaches. I think that my goal is to bring Granite Hills up and have us be competitive against league opponents,” said Luther.
With the fall sports season approaching, Luther knows that one of his biggest tests will come in learning how to oversee a football program.
“I think that’s the most, it’s the biggest challenge because you have so much going on,” he said. “So many athletes involved, coaches. You have to have people running the snack bar, the gates. I think the first 100 days is just [figuring out] how are the programs going to be run.”
With a smile, Luther said that next season will be easier but at the moment he has a lot of support from athletic directors around Porterville.
“I’m constantly talking with [Porterville Unified School District AD] Rich Rankin and Gary Stoddard about emails I get and phone calls. ‘How do we do this? How do we do that?’,” he said. “That’s what’s great is having that support system. I know [Porterville High School AD] Brian Hill very well, [Monache AD] A.J. Watts and [Strathmore AD] Ryan Born, I know them all very well. And they’ve all been very supportive, ‘Hey, [if] you need anything we’re here for you. Just call.’”
A Springville and Porterville native, Luther’s spent most of his life in the area.
He attended Springville Elementary School and went on to play basketball at PHS and Porterville College. After PC, he graduated from California State University, Bakersfield and went to Chapman University where he received his master’s degree in education with an emphasis in education.
After nine years of coaching as an assistant and head coach through nearly every level at PHS and GHHS, 10 years ago Luther became the head coach of the GHHS boys varsity basketball team.
Under Luther, the Grizzlies went to the CIF state championship twice and we’re the runner-ups in the 201415 CIF Central Section Division IV championship. Luther’s teams have been East Sequoia League champions four times, while Luther was named the ESL Coach of the Year four times and the Tulare County Coach of the Year once.
Luther said that he’ll be coaching this year as well, but that his duties as athletic director now come first.
“I’m going to be the coach this year,” he said. “If it doesn’t interfere with the AD then we’ll see how that works. But the AD is my first priority. So I’m excited for both and we’ll see how it works.”