Mike Kelly, WIBCA Hall of Fame inductee, resigns as Seattle Prep boys basketball coach after 17 seasons

The Panthers were a postseason mainstay and won a Washington state championship in 2006 under Kelly. He coached two first round NBA draft picks.

Mike Kelly has resigned as head boys basketball coach at Seattle Prep after 17 seasons, he confirmed to SBLive on Monday.

Kelly, who will be inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association in July, did not offer a reason for stepping down but said the decision “saddens me.”

Seattle Prep did not offer explanation for Kelly’s resignation either, citing its policy to not publicly discuss personnel matters.

The school did not open the job, instead tapping longtime assistant coach Granville Emerson to succeed Kelly, according to athletic director Sam Reed.

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Emerson was the head coach at the Northwest School and previously served as interim head coach at Seattle Prep in 2018-19 when Kelly, also the school’s assistant principal for student life, took a sabbatical. Jon Humphries, a 2009 Seattle Prep graduate and assistant on Kelly’s staff, will become associate head coach.

Under Kelly, the Panthers were a postseason mainstay and a consistent winner in what is widely regarded as the top high school boys basketball league in the Pacific Northwest.

They won two Metro League championships, two district titles and made 12 state tournament appearances. The Panthers won the Class 3A state championship in 2006 led by tournament MVP Spencer Hawes, who went on to play at Washington, was picked 10th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft and last played in the league in 2017.

In 2021-22, the Panthers went 22-7 and finished third in the state. They are set to graduate program pillars Braeden Smith (Colgate) and Tyler Mrus (Alaska-Fairbanks), but return 6-foot-7 junior Christian King, who is regarded as one of the state’s top wings.

Kelly, a southern California native, took over the program in 2004 after a stint at Redmond. His first year, he coached Hawes and shooting guard Martell Webster, a then-senior McDonald's All-American who was taken sixth overall in the NBA Draft out of high school in 2005.

Kelly took a step back from his coaching position in 2018-19 and returned the following year. He's one of seven head coaches set to be inducted into the WIBCA Hall of Fame in late July.

--Andy Buhler; @AndyBuhler.