October 9, 2015—Lehi, Utah
Jeff Gardner has been hired as the Men’s Head Basketball Coach for Skyridge High School, currently under construction in Lehi, Utah. The school will open in August 2016.
For the past four years, Coach Gardner has been the Head Basketball Coach at Brighton High School, where he guided the Bengals to the 5A State Tournament each year. His team advanced to the semi-finals three times, and competed for the state championship twice.
After his first season at Brighton, Coach Gardner was named by the Utah High School Basketball Coaches Association as the Wilbur Braithwaite 5A Coach of the Year. He spent five years as the head basketball coach at Mountain View High School, where he took his team to the state tournament four times. As a player, Gardner was All-State at Mountain View High School, and led his team to back-to-back state championships. He received All-Conference and Academic All-Conference awards at Snow College and Idaho State University.
In addition to being an amazing coach, Gardner is an outstanding math instructor, recognized for his ability to support all students in their educational endeavors. Principal Joel Perkins says, “We are extremely excited to have Jeff join our team at Skyridge High School. We know that he brings a tremendous amount of experience and most importantly, the ability to help young people excel and become well-rounded individuals. Coach Gardner is exactly the type of educator who exemplifies the culture we hope to create as we open our school.”
Of his new position, Gardner says, “I have been so fortunate to work with great student-athletes, coaches, and administrators at Brighton High School. While it is very difficult to leave a great situation at Brighton, the opportunity to start a new program in the community in which I live was too much to turn down. I am grateful to Mr. Perkins and (athletic director) Mark Clinton for their confidence in me, and I look forward to great things ahead.”
Coach Gardner has a bachelor’s degree in business administration (finance) and a master’s degree in education. He and his wife Lindsay have four children and reside in Lehi. Coach Gardner will continue to teach and coach at Brighton High for the remainder of the school year.