River Ridge hires ex-Evergreen coach

John Barbee, who built The Evergreen State College men’s basketball program into a national contender in the early 2000s, has been hired as River Ridge High School’s boys basketball coach, athletic director Gary Larson announced Tuesday.

Barbee spent eight seasons as Evergreen’s coach, going 112-112 from 1997-2005.

In 2002, Barbee was the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s coach of the year after leading Evergreen to a 25-6 overall record, an NAIA Division II national tournament appearance and a No. 6 national ranking.

After leaving Evergreen, Barbee coached boys basketball at Foster High School in Tukwila from 2006-’09 and girls basketball at Kennedy High School in Burien the past two seasons.

Barbee replaces Jeremy Landram, who resigned this summer after posting a 106-46 record in six seasons.

River Ridge has won or shared the Class 2A Evergreen Conference title in each of the past five seasons and has won the past four District IV championships. preps.theolympian.com