When Bobby Porter was in his first couple of season as head boys basketball coach at Layton Christian, he recalls looking around at some of his peers and thinking, “Look at this old dude, why is he still coaching.”
Two decades later he’s now one of those old dudes, and he’s ready to move on to the next chapter of his life.
And though Porter, 66, said he’s still got plenty of energy to continue coaching, he announced Wednesday at a ceremony at Layton Christian that this upcoming season will be his last.
During the ceremony he thanked family, friends and coworkers for their support and patience over the past 21 years during his time as the only head coach in school history.
“Thank you for allowing me to have a beautiful career, thank you for your friendship, thank you for your love. I’m not an easy person to get along with because I have a constant for these young people to be the best they can be, and I have a constant drive for me to be the best that I can be, and when everything lined up like it has lined up for these past 22 years, it’s been a true blessing from God,” said Porter.
He will also officially retire as the Layton Christian dean of students at the end of the school year.
During Porter’s time at Layton Christian his teams have won six state championships in three classifications (2007, ’12, ’17, ’19, ’21, ’22). Heading into his 22nd and final season as Layton Christian head coach, his current record at the school stands at 336-177. Combined with the one year he coached at Salt Lake Christian Academy in 2000-01, his career record is 352-183. That ranks as the 11th most wins in state history in the UHSAA record book.
Layton Christian gradually moved up classifications from 1A to 2A to 3A during Porter’s tenure, and now in his final season it will compete in Class 4A. It will play an independent regular-season schedule but will be eligible to participate in the 4A state tournament.
Layton Christian opens the 2022-23 season at Orem on Nov. 23.
Porter said Layton Christian’s administrators haven’t determined his replacement yet, but said he fully expects the program to maintain the winning tradition.
“The person who succeeds me I know they’ll do a fantastic job because it’s a winning environment around here. My thing was to change the culture from just going out and playing to going out and winning. I’m praying that that continues on,” said Porter.
