Bobby Hinnenkamp, who has been a varsity assistant for the Lynnwood High School girls basketball team the past two seasons, has been named the Royals’ boys coach, athletic director Rob McMains said.
A 2002 Lynnwood graduate and a counselor at the school, Hinnenkamp helped lead the Royals girls team to the 2015 3A state championship.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity,” Hinnenkamp said. “Being a Lynnwood High School alum and being a counselor in the building, I couldn’t be more excited for this to be my first opportunity to be a head coach. … When I graduated from Lynnwood, I kind of knew I wanted to be a coach back then and wanted to go into education.”
Hinnenkamp quickly pegged his alma mater as one of the top places he’d like to coach.
“In the back of your head you think, ‘It’d be cool to come back here and build a program,’” Hinnenkamp said. “But you never know how it’s going to work or if the opportunity is going to come along. Lynnwood High School is something I take a lot of pride in. I had a wonderful experience going there and playing basketball and I hope to give the players and fans the same thing.”
Prior to returning to Lynnwood for the 2013-14 season, Hinnenkamp coached the Meadowdale freshman team for three years, and served as the junior-varsity coach at Skyline for three years.
“I couldn’t think of a better fit than Bobby,” McMains said in an e-mail. “I am fired up that he is taking over. Obviously, as a Lynnwood grad he is emotionally invested in the school and the community, but he has a great ability to connect with kids. He’s also had some great experience as an assistant coach leading up to this. … He is ready for this opportunity.”
Leaving the girls program was difficult for Hinnenkamp, who enjoyed working with Lynnwood girls head coach Everett Edwards and his staff — which includes Dave Douglas, Colleen Woods, Becky Lewis and Wayne Edwards.
“That’s what made it kind of tough,” Hinnenkamp said. “Working the last couple years with those guys and working with the girls in that program was an unbelievable experience for me. I learned a lot. … It was one of those bittersweet moments. But I enjoyed the growth and my time there at Lynnwood.”
Hinnenkamp takes over for Michael Richards, who resigned in June after going 7-53 in three seasons with the Royals. Hinnenkamp hopes to reverse Lynnwood’s recent struggles, which saw the Royals go 1-19 this past season.
“My own take, and maybe this is the counselor in me, but I think basketball is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical,” Hinnenkamp said. “I’m not exactly sure where these players are at in terms of their mental focus. When you’re coming off a one-win season, I know mentally it’s going to be tough. So you’ve got to instill some confidence in these players. When you get that going, you can get them excited and ready to go.”
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