PG’s Boston earns Coach of the Year
A coach can inspire and help turn an average team into a great team.
Pleasant Grove’s Jason Boston has been named the Gazette’s All-Area girls’ Coach of the Year. Boston, with a team that had just one senior, helped guide the Lady Hawks into the area round of the playoffs this past season.
“It’s an honor, and I’m humbled,” Boston said. “I know what
type of really good coaches we have in the city and surrounding area.
“The players are where it’s at, and I had the opportunity to coach great players. I had really good assistant coaches in Steve Morris and Becca Collom.”
The Hawk coaches came together as a team and helped Pleasant Grove reach the Class 4A area round of the playoffs.
Pleasant Grove earned an 84-65 win over Rains in the bi-district round, but fell to Bullard 67-51 in the area round.
“I think in coaching you want to be better at the end of the season than we are at the beginning,” Boston said. “I felt like the season was a success. The season would only be totally satisfying to the team that wins state, so for us to go a couple of rounds deep was good. It sets the foundation for this group moving forward.”
Boston thanked junior high coaches Marsha Cowling and Doyle Clark for doing a good job of preparing young players for high school basketball.
Pleasant Grove had an 8-2 record in District 14-4A and finished in first place. Boston has been coaching the Hawk varsity squad for five years.
In the 2016-17 season, PG started two juniors, a sophomore, and two freshmen.
“What I enjoy most is learning the strengths, weaknesses, and personalities of members of our team and being able to use that knowledge to put our athletes together as a unit,” Boston said.