Bloomfield Hills High School Names Graves as Head Basketball Coach

Over the course of the past few years Bloomfield Hills Lahser has seen its basketball program go to new heights behind the trio of Yante Maten, Armand Cartwright and Khalil Gracey, along with head coach Duane Graves..

But with Lahser merging with Bloomfield Hills Andover to form the new Bloomfield Hills high school starting next year, there was some doubt that the junior trio along with Graves would still be together as the Blackhawks opened up their coaching search which rumored to come down to Graves and Andover head coach Jeff Rubin.

But as of Friday morning it was rumored that Graves had received and accepted the job offer to be the head coach of the Bloomfield Hills Blackhawks, however Bloomfield Hills Schools only said that the job had been offered to Graves.

Graves later confirmed that he received the job on twitter.

I'm pleased to announce that I have been name varsity boys basketball coach for the Bloomfield Hills Black Hawks Thanks for all the support

— Lahser Knights Bball (@LahserKnightsBB) April 19, 2013

Since Graves took over for Lahser back in 2011, the Knights have been one of the fastest rising basketball programs in Oakland County as the Knights have won both district and league titles in each of the past two seasons, and made a trip to the regional final in this past season.

Keeping Graves was the right choice for Bloomfield Hills considering that in just a couple of years, Graves helped turn things around in a hurry for Lahser as he helped lead the Knights to a pair of district titles after they had a drought of over 10 years. The hiring also made a lot of sense because Graves has helped develop the Knights with the core of Maten, Cartwright and Gracey and has now helped put the Blackhawks into a position where they could be serious contenders to make an appearance at the Breslin Center for next year's state finals.

This is no knock on Rubin, who proved to be one of the area's top coaches over the past couple of years as well in his time with Andover as he helped lead the Barons to an 11-10 record. There's no doubt in my mind that Rubin will once again be on the sidelines, helping lead another strong team in the area.

Next season, the Knights will have high expectations as they will return the soon-to-be senior trio as well as a number of other steady contributors that suited up for the Barons and Knights last season.