SEQUIM — The hoops leader who has the longest tenure of any head coach in Sequim High boys basketball history in the past eight decades — and possibly the longest ever — is stepping down.
Greg Glasser, coach of the boys’ Wolves since the 2007-2008 campaign, resigned his position with the district this spring, after leading Sequim’s prep program for 15 seasons.
“I feel pretty blessed to coach that long,” Glasser said last week.
“It was a tough decision, because I really enjoy working with the kids. It came down to being there’s so much more than the coaching — it’s the planning and the fundraising — [they] just kind of take their toll after 15 years. I’m looking for a bit of a break from all that.”
Outgoing Wolves athletic director Dave Ditlefsen said last week the position had been posted for a couple of weeks and would be filled soon.
Many accomplishments
Glasser led the Wolves to 10 postseason tournaments and two state tourneys (2009, 2013), finishing with 175 victories in 353 contests.
His win total is second only to the state Hall of Fame coach Rick Kaps, who tallied 201 wins in 14 seasons. His 15-year tenure is the longest stretch in school history since whole records were kept in the mid-1930s.
“He brought consistency, a lot of passion,” said Art Green, a former SHS hoops standout who worked as an assistant under Glasser for several years. “He got a lot out of the kids … a lot like [Rick] Kaps. The kids wanted to play hard for Greg through his whole time there.”
His first year on Sequim High’s campus (2006-2007) saw Glasser take leadership of a talent-laden girls team that went 13-12 overall and earned a spot in the Class 2A state tournament.
Sequim’s boys were also a state-caliber team but were in the throes of a coaching conundrum: Matt Thacker led Sequim the first five games before being replaced by longtime assistant (and former SHS head coach Larry Hill).
By the end of that season, Hill had already decided he didn’t want to lead that team another year, not with his son Evan coming on to the squad. Instead, he and other coaches convinced Glasser to take the reins of the boys’ team.
“We had to volunteer [with the youth program] to make sure we would support him,” Hill recalled.
“We didn’t know how long we’d get him. Fifteen years … not bad, considering we had to coerce him into doing it.”
In Glasser’s first season with SHS’ boys in 2007-2008, Sequim went 6-14 and missed the postseason. But the following winter, despite a sub-.500 record, the Wolves got hot at the end of the season and returned to state, even earning a win over Tumwater thanks to the hot hand of sharpshooter Ary Webb and defense from long-limbed John Textor.
“Greg really had a great feel for what kids could do on the floor,” said Hill, who stayed on to coach for a couple of years under Glasser.
“That’s what made him so good. Plus, he’s a great guy … the kind of guy you want to have your kids around.”
The Wolves hit their collective stride under Glasser from 2010-2011 to the 2014-2015 seasons, when he led Sequim to an 85-40 record.
That stretch included a 2012-2013 season that saw Sequim amass a 15-1 league record (and a league title), a second-place finish at districts and state 2A tourney berth, where they placed sixth. Overall, the Wolves finished 22-6 that season.
“Greg … just loves basketball; he always has,” Hill said. “As a coach, he’s very intuitive about players, very intuitive about the game.
“He always had the ability to communicate with kids. He was really good at keeping things relatively simple for them.”
Along with dozens of all-Olympic League players, he coached two all-state players (Jayson Brocklesby, 2012-2013 and Payton Glasser, 2017-2018) and a league MVP (Alex Barry, 2014-2015).
Along the way, Glasser got to coach his two sons, Payton (2015-2018) and Pryce (2019-2022).
Tough sacrifices
Glasser said while he enjoyed coaching his sons, he does regret not being able to see games of or coach his daughter Hope, a Sequim standout in multiple sports and one of Peninsula College’s top hoops players.
“It was a real special time for myself and my family; at the same time, I had to sacrifice something for that,” Glasser said.
“I really enjoyed watching her play [at Peninsula College]. Looking back, I wish I would have had a chance to coach her a little bit more.”
Glasser said he was appreciative of a number of key figures supporting his role as head coach, from athletic directors and administrators to a number of assistant coaches, parents of players and in particular his wife, Kim Glasser.
“None of this is possible without the support of my wife: There’s a lot … she had to endure, sitting in the stands, she’s the mother of a player … she had to deal with quite a bit,” Greg Glasser said.
Green, who plays on a Port Angeles city league basketball team with Glasser, said, “I’m really excited for him to go on to whatever [he does]. He put in an amazing 15 years.”
As for the future? Glasser said, “I’m not going to say ‘I’m not ever going to coach again.’”
