Roosevelt High School Boys' Basketball Team -- Seattle, Washington

2003-2004:

Rob Sarmiento, Head Coach

Rob attended high school in Federal Way from 1988-1991, where he placed at state twice during his junior and senior years. He also played point guard on two division championship teams and one district championship team. Rob attended the University of Washington where he earned a B.A. in Political Science in 1995, and a Masters in Education in 1998.

Rob has taught social studies at Roosevelt since 1997. From 1995-1998 he was the Assistant Varsity Coach at Roosevelt. In 1999 and 2001 he served in that position at Ballard High. He assumed the varsity head coach position at Roosevelt starting in the 2002 season.

Forrest Ward, JV Coach/Head Assistant Coach

Coach Ward is a Roosevelt High School graduate ('76), where he played football and ran track. As a Roughrider track team member, he was both Metro Champion and voted All-City in 1976.

Forrest attended Spokane Falls Community College (1976-77) where he played football on a 1976 league champion team. After attending the University of Puget Sound in 1978, Forrest graduated from the University of Western Washington in 1980. Forrest works in the athletic supply industry.

Forrest has over 20 years of coaching experience at Seattle area schools. He started coaching both football and basketball at Roosevelt in 1980. He assisted the 1982 RHS state basketball champions as well as the 1987 state runners-up. He also assisted at O'Dea on several successful teams (1994 - third in state; 1998 - fourth in state). He returned to assist at his alma mater RHS for the 2002 campaign. Forrest is Coach Sarmiento's head assistant.

Rich Southern, Varsity Assistant/JV Assistant Coach

Rich is a 1990 Graduate of Sammamish High School in Bellevue, WA. He played basketball all four years, the last two at varsity level. He also played football for one year and was a member of the Marching Band.

Rich graduated from the University of Washington in 1995, with a degree in History. He was all set to become a teacher when he realized he was tired of going to school! After working for several years in the automotive public relations field, Rich decided it was time for a career change. He is currently going back to school, studying to become a personal trainer.

This is Rich's sixth year of coaching. In 1999 He served as the Freshman coach and head scout at Ballard High. Previously he was the JVC/Freshman coach and varsity assistant/Head scout for Roosevelt. In 1996, Rich was the All-programs Assistant at Sammamish High School.

Zach Johnson, Varsity Assistant/JV Assistant Coach

Coach Johnson is another Roughrider alumnus on the coaching staff. He graduated from RHS in 1994 after playing two years of varsity basketball, teaming with Coach Joe Lewis one year. He was a starter at point guard his senior year.

After graduating from Roosevelt, Zach continued his basketball career at Fordham University (New York City) where he played for two years. He now is a retail manager in Seattle.

Zach coached a year at Laurelhurst Playfield here in Seattle before joining the Roosevelt coaching staff for the 2002-2003 season.

Themba Dayton, Varsity Assistant/JV Assistant Coach

Coach Dayton is another Seattle City Schools product on the Roosevelt coaching staff, having graduated from Garfield High in 1989.

After graduating from Garfield, Themba headed east to attend Keene State (Keene, New Hampshire), where he played basketball. He graduated in 1994 with his B.A. in Psychology. Themba currently works in the human resources field.

Themba assisted at Franklin in 1997-98 at both the varsity and junior varsity level before joining the Roosevelt coaching ranks last year. Themba and his wife Terri live in Seattle.

Joe Lewis, Third Team Head Coach/Varsity Assistant Coach

A former two sport star as a Roughrider, Joe played both football and basketball. A two-year member of the varsity basketball team, he was captain and started at shooting guard. On the gridiron, Joe was a four-year member of the varsity squad and an All-League performer. He graduated from Roosevelt in 1993.

Joe continued his football career at Walla Walla Community College for a year before moving on Kansas University. He then transferred to Seattle University where he walked on the varsity basketball team and played under former Garfield HS coach Al Hairston. He received his B.A. in Criminal Justice in 2001.

After a tryout with the San Diego Chargers and a year in the Canadian Football League with the British Columbia Lions, Joe enjoyed a four-year career in the Arena Football League playing in Portland, Boise (for two years), and finally Yakima where he was named All-Arena. He now works as a juvenile rehabilitation officer at the Echo Glen Children's Center in North Bend, WA.

Joe returned to Roosevelt to assume the role of Freshman coach in the 2002 season. It was his first season of coaching. He became Third Team coach during the 2002-2003 season.

Ian Malcolm, Fourth Team Head Coach

Coach Malcolm was a two-year letterman in basketball at Pullman High School (1990-91). He also played and lettered two years on the Pullman varsity football team.

Even though he grew up in Pullman, Ian attended the University of Washington where he earned a B.A. in History in 1995. He then received his Master's in Education from Western Washington in 1997.

Since 2000, Ian has taught History and English at Roosevelt. He will be taking over the reins of the Fourth Team this winter. It is his first year coaching.

Ian and his wife Sheri were married in the summer of 2002.

Gordon Kaplan, Volunteer Assistant

Coach Gordon Kaplan comes to us most recently from Orlando, Florida. A graduate of Seattle's Lincoln High School Kaplan began his coaching career in the recreation leagues of Baltimore, Maryland in 1983. Im the following seven years Kaplan made his way to the prep level and spent three seasons championing his own high school program competing in the MSA "C" conference.

In 1990 Kaplan took a position as First Assistant at Goucher College, an NCAA Division III school outside of Baltimore. During this time, Goucher won back-to-back conference championships and earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Upon leaving Goucher, Kaplan spent an additional year as Head Coach at the prep level before moving to Bloomington, Indiana where he spent the season observing the Indiana Hoosiers. During this time Kaplan earned a Master's Degree in Kinesiology/Sports Management.

After IU, Kaplan moved to Orlando where he spent a year with the NBA's Orlando Magic working in the Basketball Operations department. With the Magic, Kaplan assisted with video scouting, free agent projects, draft duties, and technologies.

One year later Kaplan took work in technology but continued his passion, volunteering with Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, Florida. After three years out of the game Kaplan comes to Roosevelt to serve in whatever ways he can to help the Roughrider program.

Coach Jessup

2003-2004 Coach

2003-2004: