By Tracy Record and Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers

West Seattle High School‘s boys-basketball team, coming off a season that put them in the state tournament, met their new head coach today.

Dan Kriley has been hired as successor to Keffrey Fazio, who announced last month that he’s leaving WSHS after 10 years, headed for a college-coaching gig.

Kriley brings college experience – and pro – to his new job. His three-decades-plus resume includes coaching positions at Seattle University, Pierce College, and Tacoma Community College, as well as Ballard High School, and professional coaching overseas. He’s lived in West Seattle for more than a decade and a half and has been coaching a community program here too. “I’m a big fan of the (WSHS) program and how it’s progressed with Coach Keff,” Kriley told us. Then came news of the opening, and community members asked Kriley if he’d be interested.

He was. And he’s excited to take over a program where “the foundation’s been built … a lot of great players are coming up in the community; my goal and aspiration is to build a fence around West Seattle, keep all the talent here on the island” with no reason to attend other schools. (That might eventually include his own 12-year-old son, a Holy Rosary student who plays basketball.)

Though next season is half a year away, Kriley is ready to get started. He said today’s meeting with players addressed “summer workouts” – the players are “going to be very fit” – as well as a tournament with a few other Metro League teams next week that should give him “an idea of where they’re at.”

And the players will start learning about his style. “Super-detailed and hard-nosed” are the first phrases Kriley uses when asked about that. “My teams have always been known for uptempo defense” and “very structured” offense.

With his longtime West Seattle roots, Kriley also hopes to increase community support for the program, “whether it’s coming out to games, or supporting our fundraisers.” He says he’s planning to be at WSHS “a number of years” and to “build this (team) into a state-championship contender.”