Smith out as Fohi hoops coach, Tuttle in

Ryan Smith has resigned as the Fontana boys basketball coach and has been replaced by Summit assistant coach Brent Tuttle, Fohi athletic director Evelyn Vance just told the Prep-dog. The appointment is pending school board approval.

"He went up to Summit with (Steve) Hickey went it opened, but he played on our (CIF-SS title) team here and is the welding teacher and is well-known," Vance said. "He's also been the assistant softball coach here."

Speaking by cell phone from his welding shop today, Tuttle sounded excited.

"We want to instill Steeler pride, for sure," Tuttle said. "I'm an ex-Fohi player and a graduate and now I'm getting the opportunity to coach, just like Lance Ozier with the football program. Fontana has some tough kids, but it will be a long road because we'll be running with teams like Eisenhower and Redlands who have a lot of players coming back. We want to instill a work ethic and work hard so that we can compete."

Tuttle played on Fohi's 1994-95 CIF-SS title team, which defeated Long Beach Poly in the finals. The team, coached by Mike Southworth, included future NBA player Cory Benjamin, along with Jamal and Dwight Slaughter. Tuttle described himself as a "role-player" on the team.

Smith, the outgoing coach, went 25-31 during his two-year tenure as the Fohi coach, including a 9-18 record in 2007-2008. The program was hurt by the move and transfer of star junior Demetrius Walker to San Juan Capistrano JSerra.

Walker, who had his picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated as an eighth grader and a long story written on him speculating that he might be the "next Lebron," led the Steelers in scoring as a freshman and sophomore.
and was named first-team all-county as a sophomore.

Fontana went 7-14 under former coach Mark Soderberg when Walker was a freshman and 16-13 under Smith with Walker was a sophomore.