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Mater Dei athletic director Kevin Kiernan will retire at the end of the school year and return as the girls basketball coach at Troy, the schools announced on Thursday.
Kiernan, 65, resigned after 17 seasons as Mater Dei’s girls basketball coach following the 2023-24 season citing health reasons. He underwent successful surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cord after the campaign and expressed a desire to return to coaching during this past season.
Kiernan, the state’s all-time leader in girls basketball coaching victories with 900, built Troy into a powerhouse before turning Mater Dei into a two-time national champion.
“I want to coach again,” said Kiernan, whose career includes 12 CIF-SS titles and six state championships. “When I left (coaching) last year, one, I thought I’m done. I can’t talk. The physical toll I had the last year and half with this cyst on my vocal, it was taxing.”
“And to be honest, I looked at it as a great opportunity to hire a great coach (in Jody Wynn),” he added of the former Long Beach State and University of Washington coach who replaced him at Mater Dei.
“I like working as the Mater Dei athletic director but I do want to coach again. I think it’s something I’m good at. I’m 65. My window is shrinking if I want to do this again.”
At Troy, Kiernan will return to a program that he guided to five CIF-SS titles, three state championships and 11 Freeway League title during an 11-year tenure. He left Troy after the 2006-7 season.
A former special education instructional aide at the school, Kiernan replaces retiring Troy coach Roger Anderson, who led the Warriors (12-17) to a runner-up finish in the North Hills League this winter and the first round of the CIF-SS Division 3AA playoffs.
Troy is set to graduate nine seniors and return no all-league players.
“I’ve always had a great fondest for Troy, a great experience at Troy,” said Kiernan, who will be a walk-on coach at the Fullerton school starting July 1. “It just seemed like a natural opportunity for me.”
“Roger has done a great job,” the coach added of Anderson, who replaced Kiernan in 2007-08 and guided the Warriors to 14 Freeway League titles and three CIF-SS runner-up finishes. “It’s going to be a challenge but it will be fun for me.”
Troy athletic director Chris Blume expressed his excitement in the hiring of Kiernan. “For us, it’s Kevin coming home,” he said. “He is a great person. He cares deeply about his student-athletes.”
Kiernan emerged as Mater Dei’s athletic director in March of 2021 following the departure of Amanda Walters after nine months at the post. Just one month earlier, an alleged hazing incident occurred in the school’s football program that led to a lawsuit being filed against Mater Dei and the Diocese of Orange.
Mater Dei’s athletics department has encountered more off-the-field struggles but Kiernan has seen considerable progress.
“I’m really proud of what we did in the last three years,” he said. “With a lot of help from a lot people — administration and my associate athletic directors, our coaching staffs — I think we’re in a really good spot compared to where we were a few years ago. I think it’s the right time (to retire).”
