Sacramento Adventist players and coach Scott Tedmon celebrate their 57-47 victory over Ripon Christian during the CIF State Northern California Division VI final game at Ripon Christian High School in 2018. Tedmon, a Sacramento Superior Court judge, retired from coaching in 2021, returned in 2025 to coach the Sac Adventist girls basketball team before being fired from the position this week.
Andy Alfaro
Modesto Bee file
Three Sacramento-area high school basketball coaches of regional renown have stepped down after successful careers, and another highly regarded mentor who guided a small-school girls program to successive CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship-game appearances was terminated.
Deonard Wilson bows out after guiding the Grant Pacers boys team since 2009, a run that included league and section championship success.
Wilson’s Pacers won back-to-back section crowns, and he called his 2022 title team, “A dream come true!”
Grant Pacer’s head coach Deonard Wilson hugs Steven after he fouled out during the fourth quarter Friday, March 2, 2018, as the Grant Pacers fell to the St. Mary’s Ram in the CIF Division II Sac-Joaquin Section title game in the Spanos Center at the University of the Pacific. Wilson bowed out of his role as Grant boys basketball head coach after the 2025-26 season. Brian Baer Special to The Sacramento Bee
Jason Sitterud is done as the boys coach at Granite Bay in Placer County after guiding the Grizzlies since 2008.He will assume the role of Granite Bay athletic director starting this July, replacing the retiring Tim Healy.
“It’s just time, and I’m happy about it, and we had a great run,” Sitterud said Friday.
Sitterud’s coaching run saw underdog teams stage dramatic upsets in the section and CIF Northern California rounds, including in 2022-23, when guard Yaqub Mir was named The Sacramento Bee’s Player of the Year for engineering some of those upsets with late-game heroics.
Granite Bay and Grant battled to the end in a thrilling 2022 section final at Golden 1 Center, won by the Pacers, 65-58. Sitterud also coached powerhouse girls golf teams at Granite Bay.
Granite Bay Grizzlies head coach Jason Sitterud talks to his players on a timeout during the first quarter against the Granite Bay Grizzlies at the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II high school boys basketball semifinal game Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, at Rio Americano High School in Arden Arcade. Sitterud ended his run as Granite Bay boys basketball coach this month, after the end of the 2025-26 season. Xavier Mascareñas Sacramento Bee file
Geoff Harris bows out after coaching Faith Christian of Yuba City to a 131-26 record over five seasons, a run that included coaching daughters Audrey and Lauren Harris.
Lauren Harris this season became the most prolific 3-point shooter in the history of girls prep basketball in producing one of the great careers in regional history, as the team went 34-1 and won the CIF State Division IV championship last weekend at Golden 1 Center.
The school, with just 52 students, won three CIF Section and two CIF NorCal titles under coach Harris. Harris said he is stepping aside to watch Lauren play on scholarship at Long Beach State.
“It’s time, and I enjoyed every moment coaching,” Geoff Harris said.
Faith Christian Lions coach Geoff Harris diagrams a play during a timeout against the Bret Harte Bullfrogs in the CiF Sac-Joaquin Section Division V girls basketball championship at Golden 1 Center on Saturday, Feb. 28. Harris stepped down after the 2025-26 season. NATHANIEL LEVINE nlevine@sacbee.com Tedmon out at Sac Adventist
Scott Tedmon attended the Faith Christian game at Golden 1 Center out of support for a coaching friend and as a coaching rival.
The next night turned out to be his last as girls coach in a full capacity at Sacramento Adventist Academy, though he didn’t know it then: a season-ending banquet in which players and parents expressed gratitude to the Sacramento judge who has coached high school basketball for 40 years, the last year-and-a-half at Sacramento Adventist.
Tedmon on Thursday met with Sac Adventist athletic director Cyrus Jones, whom Tedmon coached when he led championship boys teams at the school. The two did not always agree on management style this winter, and it came to a head on Thursday when Jones told Tedmon he was not a good fit for the girls program.
Tedmon said Jones asked him to resign. He refused, so he was terminated, a blow to the coach who helped save the girls program from collapse. Tedmon was urged by school administrators at the middle of the 2024-25 season to take over the girls program after the previous coach was terminated for personnel issues.
Tedmon did so, guiding the injury-riddled Capitals to the section finals at Golden 1 Center, and then did so again this season with another team thinned by injuries. Tedmon said he was moved to tears at the Sunday team banquet, including receiving $300 in gift cards and a card that read, “A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.”
In California prep sports, coaches can be dismissed at any time, be it for a lack of success or a personality clash with an administrator. This can happen because coaches sign year-to-year, at-will contracts.
Jones, who is also the Sac Adventist boys basketball coach, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Tedmon said he has not closed the door on a return to coaching. He said he will continue to provide color commentary on the streaming NFHS Network for football and basketball games. He said he has been touched by a flood of support from regional coaches.
“I am disappointed that we didn’t get to finish what we started in working to take the girls program to unprecedented success on the court and in life,” Tedmon said. “My heart is with the girls, and I wish the best for each of them.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2026 at 12:05 PM.
Related Stories from Sacramento Bee
The Sacramento Bee
Joe Davidson has covered sports for The Sacramento Bee since 1989: preps, colleges, Kings and features. He was in early 2024 named the National Sports Media Association Sports Writer of the Year for California and he was in the fall of 2024 inducted into the California High School Football Hall of Fame. He is a 14-time award winner from the California Prep Sports Writer Association. In 2021, he was honored with the CIF Distinguished Service award. He is a member of the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Davidson participated in football and track in Oregon.