Coach Zimmerman

For 30 years, Ryan Zimmerman has been dedicated to the development of basketball in the Treasure Valley and Idaho.  Ryan’s first job, at the age of 15, was as a YBall referee and camp coach for the Boise Family YMCA.  In 2001, Zimmerman traveled around rural areas of Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon putting on camps on behalf of the Idaho Stampede with future NBA Coach Bryan Gates and GM John Brunelle.  As a member of the Board of Directors at the Idaho Black History Museum, Zimmerman chaired the unique event known as the Meeting of the Minds: Legends of Idaho Basketball Classic, where many of the most influential basketball players and coaches in Idaho history gathered for an evening on the hardwood.

Zimmerman was also the Camp Coordinator of the Orlando Lightfoot camp in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

 

In 2012 Zimmerman was tasked with developing a winning culture and turning around the Men’s Basketball program at Treasure Valley Community College.  Zimmerman, 2014 NorthWest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, helped guide the Chukars to back-to-back NWAC Tournament appearances in 2013-14 and 2014-15, producing a 6-2 overall tournament record.  The turnaround for the Men’s Basketball program in Ontario (only 2 winning seasons in the 2000’s) began in 2012-13, when Zimmerman guided the Chukars to a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Region, and a 13-13 overall record. The Chukars enjoyed highlights on the year by winning their first ever NWAC Crossover Tournament, the 1st of four.  In 2013-14, the Chukars won the school's first ever conference title, finishing with a 21-9 overall record. In addition to winning the NWAC Eastern Division title for the first time in school history, Treasure Valley earned its first NWAC Tournament berth in six seasons, its fourth appearance since joining the league in 2002. Zimmerman helped the Chukars to their first winning season in the NWAC (11-3) since 2005-06 and their most regular-season wins (18) since joining the NWAC in 2002.  In six seasons, the Chukars had 8 wins over national JUCO programs, and 2 victories over top 25 ranked JUCOs. Zimmerman coached 13 players who earned 16 NWAC Eastern Region All-Conference honors, two Defensive Players of the Year, and one Academic All-American.  14 Chukars received conference academic recognition under Ryan’s watch.  During his tenure, the Chukars helped promote more players to four-year schools than any other NWAC program.  Zimmerman has several players who went on to play professionally after their collegiate careers, and former assistant Eric Butler went on to coach professionally in China and all around Asia.  Zimmerman stepped down in 2018 as the College’s All-Time leader in Career wins.

 

Ryan’s competitive basketball career started in 1992, where he played on one of the very first traveling All-Star AAU teams in the state of Idaho and learning from his lifelong coaches and mentors, Brian King and Brian Sperry. During the 1993-94 season, Ryan was named the MVP of the State of Idaho’s AAU championship Tournament. He later went on to be an All-State athlete in both Football and Basketball at Bishop Kelly High School. While at Bishop Kelly, Zimmerman helped lead the Knights to the 1997-1998 State Championship title. He then went on to play collegiately at Mt. Hood C.C., in Gresham, Oregon, during the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons.

 

In 2003, Ryan returned to Bishop Kelly, this time, as a coach.  As an assistant he helped lead the Knights Freshman team to the District Championship.  As the head coach of the sophomore boys’ team in ‘04-’05, he helped lead the Knights to become league champions. The following year, Zimmerman led the Knights to the J.V. district championship and for his efforts he received the 4A District III Coach of the Year Award. Following his tenure at B.K., Ryan volunteered to go out to Nampa High School to learn from and coach under legendary coach Bus Connor.

 

In 2004, Zimmerman started coaching a high school AAU team called the ‘Cagers’ that had a mix of players from various schools around the Valley.  In 2008, Ryan became the first high school coach for the Hoop Dreams AAU Club.  While Zimmerman was a coach with Hoop Dreams Basketball Club, the Hoop Dreams high school team became one of the premier high school programs in the Northwest. In the July college recruiting period of 2011, Hoop Dreams went 7-0 en route to winning the Northwest Premier Showcase Open division in Seattle, WA. Hoop Dreams became the first team from Idaho to win the Open/Platinum Division of the Northwest Premier Showcase at any age level in the history of the tournament.  More recently, Zimmerman led the Boise Storm to the Championship of the HoopSource MLK Rose City Shootout in 2020.  During his years coaching AAU, 19 future collegiate basketball players (seven NCAA D1), ten NCAA D1 college football players, and one major league baseball player learned from Ryan’s tutelage.

 

Zimmerman received his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Boise State University, and earned a MBA through BSU’s Executive MBA program.

 

Ryan is currently a small business owner.  He and his wife, Patsy, love raising their two children in Idaho.