“I didn’t want to get into coaching, that was the furthest thing from my mind that time,” said Maranatha head coach Tim Tucker.
Before being inducted into the Pasadena sports hall of fame, the CIF championship seasons, and coaching at his alma mater Pasadena high school, Maranatha Minutemen boys basketball coach Tucker was a graduate of Westmont college who lost passion in playing basketball.
“That was enough for me,” Tucker said, reminiscing on his stint in a summer professional pro league. “I think God had a different path for me.”
An old classmate from high school had contacted him with a job opportunity: an assistant coaching job at L.A. Valley College. This would be Tucker’s first coaching job.
“I love the game of basketball,” Tucker said. “I always been a very smart player, so getting into coaching was an easy transition.”
With his passion for youth guiding him, Tucker continued to pursue coaching. With mentorship from coaches that he worked with, Tucker made the transition from assistant coach to head coach when he received a call from Pasadena High School to stand at the helm of the boys basketball team.
His 18 seasons of coaching the Pasadena Bulldogs boys basketball team were successful. The team won 15 Pacific League titles and two CIF championships.
While coaching, Tucker created and became CEO of a company called Bourne Inc. The company is a group home that helps girls as young as six years old to boys as old as 18 years old. Tucker would recruit his former players to work for Bourne Inc.
“The business is two-fold,” he said. “It provided for young, young kids a safe haven, but it’s also there for young people to come back and get their first job until they really find out what they want to do in life.”
The goal of the company is to ensure children are encouraged to lead productive lives. Tucker spent most of his life serving young people.
“When I got out of college and looking for a job, my first job was working as a child care worker for a group home,” Tucker said.
Leaving his alma mater in 2013 was a controversial move, but Tucker wanted to coach at a Christian high school and allow long-time assistant coach Tony Brooks to be the head coach.
Upon being hired, his goal was to make history and lead the school to their first CIF championship in boys basketball. With the talents of now University of Oregon standout Tyler Dorsey and Stanford freshmen Trevor Stanback, Tucker was able to realize that dream two seasons later.
The Minutemen had a 22-9 overall and 8-0 in the Olympic League during the 2014-2015 season, resulting in securing the Division 4A Southern Section Championship title. Maranatha was ranked 36th in the state.
“It takes players along with good coaching to win games,” Tucker said. “We were fortunate, everything kind of fell into place at the right time.”
This season, the Minutemen was ranked 93rd in the state with a 18-11 overall record and a 6-2 record in the Olympic league.
