Bloomington A.D. Taylor to retire

Bloomington athletic director Ron Taylor will retire as athletic director at the end of this school year, Taylor told the Prep-dog this evening.

Taylor, 60, has been at Bloomington for 34 years, a large portion of which was spent in the English department. In fact, he was the department head for many years.

"I had a great time teaching," the Redlands resident said. "A lot of kids have come back (to visit). I got an awful lot of satisfaction teaching kids to read and write."

He also was the boys basketball coach from 1978 until 1992. For the past four years, he has been the A.D., succeeding Butch Edge in that capacity.

"My wife (Sharon) and I bought an RV and we have grandchildren in Ventura and Northern California and so it's time," he said.

Taylor coached his older son, Trent (36), in basketball at Bloomington. His younger son, Brett (32), played basketball for Randy Genung at Redlands.

Both of Taylor's sons are now educators.

A Garden Grove High School graduate, Taylor played basketball at Orange Coast Community College and later graduated from Long Beach State. He took classes at Long Beach State from former Redlands High School and Long Beach State coach Jerry Tarkanian and said Tarkanian was his inspiration for becoming a coach.

"Bloomington was pretty poor in basketball years ago, but we became pretty good in the middle 80s, late 80s and early 90s," Taylor said.

Taylor's prized player at Bloomington, Evric Gray, played for Tarkanian in college at UNLV and in the National Basketball Association and Europe..

Taylor also coached girls volleyball, cross country and baseball during his career at Bloomington.

No successor to Taylor has been selected, he said.