Karl-Anthony Towns' father, Karl Towns Sr., named head coach of St. Joseph High School

Today in Cool Basketball News, Karl-Anthony Towns‘ father, Karl Towns Sr., will coach at the same high school that helped develop KAT into one of the best basketball players in the world.

On Friday, Saint Joseph High School (Metuchen, NJ) announced that it has hired Towns Sr. as the program’s next head basketball coach. Towns Sr. was previously the head coach at Piscataway Vocational and Technical School for 15 seasons, which included a 2003 NJSIAA section title. He posted an overall record of 177-162 in those 15 seasons before stepping down in 2014.

Now, he’ll take over at St. Joseph — where he watched his son make the state championship from 2012-14 and win 2014 Gatorade Player of the Year before heading off to Kentucky and eventually the NBA as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 Draft.

“I am very excited to be back home at Saint Joe’s,” Karl Towns, Sr. said, according to the school’s press release. “This is a very coveted job for me because of the memories I have of watching Karl and the 2013-2014 Falcons establish themselves as one of the best basketball teams in New Jersey history. While it is impossible to predict similar success, we will stop at nothing to ensure Saint Joe’s basketball continues producing talented, well-rounded student-athletes on and off the floor.”

Saint Joseph High School is excited to announce the appointment of Karl Towns, Sr. P’14 as the school’s next head basketball coach.

Read more: https://t.co/BH9kTdviJT pic.twitter.com/Kqaj9TaaW5

— Saint Joe's Metuchen (@StJoesMetuchen) June 7, 2024

Following his time as head coach at Piscataway, Towns Sr. took some time away from the coaching ranks. He spent one season at Middlesex County College in 2017-18 before returning to the sidelines in 2023-24 as an assistant at Kean University under Saint Joseph Athletic Hall of Fame coach Dave Turco.

Towns Sr. was a 6-foot-6 star forward during his high school days before spending two college seasons at Monmouth College where he pulled down 515 rebounds — 11th-most in school history. He will be officially introduced as the St. Joe’s head coach on Wednesday, June 12 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

This news comes shortly after KAT and the Minnesota Timberwolves were eliminated from the Western Conference Finals by the Dallas Mavericks in late May. Although Minny was bested 4-1 in the series, Towns finished off his ninth NBA season as an All-Star for the fourth time. The 7-footer averaged 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and three assists in 32.7 minutes per game for the Wolves during the 2023-24 season on shooting splits of 50.4/41.6/87.3.