The Saint Jo Panthers will have a new boy’s basketball coach this school year.
Ryan Bruce takes over for Lyndon Cook to lead the Panthers.
Bruce comes to Saint Jo after spending last year serving as an assistant coach at Nazareth High School. Before that Bruce had no high school coaching experience, having spent the last several years hanging fiber optic cables from telephone poles.
“I played college basketball for several years and always wanted to coach, but kind of got sidetracked trying to chase money more than dreams,” Bruce said. “I enjoyed what I did, but it wasn’t the same as coaching. It was just a matter of time before I got into it.”
Bruce graduated from Glen Rose High School in 2009 before spending time playing basketball at the University of Texas in Arlington and the Northwestern Oklahoma State University before finally graduating from Tarleton State University.
Bruce said what attracted him to Saint Jo was the returning talent the basketball team has along with its recent success.
“They seemed to be pretty successful last year and I saw they are returning seven seniors,” Bruce said. “I watched some film on them and was really impressed with all the guard play. The size of the post. The athleticism for a 1A school. They have a point guard (Kile Thurman) that is a true basketball leader and his IQ is through the roof.”
Bruce expects to change some stuff on defense, but with the team’s continuity and success he doesn’t want to mess too much with what the team has been doing on offense.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.