Legendary Curtis boys basketball coach Tim Kelly announces retirement
Longtime Curtis High School boys basketball coach Tim Kelly is retiring, the school announced Tuesday.
Kelly won five state championships as a coach, three at Curtis (2013, 2022 and 2023) and two at Lincoln (2001, 2002). In total, his teams made 22 state tournament appearances over the course of his coaching career.
Kelly returned to Curtis, his alma mater, in 2006 after a 14-year run at Lincoln. In addition to the three state titles, Kelly won 12 Class 4A South Puget Sound League titles. In 2009, he was inducted into the Washington State Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.
Kelly has earned numerous accolades, including nine Class 4A SPSL Coach of the Year honors and two Washington State Coach of the Year awards. He won 581 games in 32 seasons in Class 4A, the largest high school sports classification in Washington. He compiled a 362-121 record at Curtis.
Kelly was diagnosed with prostate cancer in in 2010. He has been living with and coaching through it since then.
Kelly coached Curtis to back-to-back 4A state titles in 2022 and 2023, a team highlighted by current UW freshman Zoom Diallo and Point Loma (San Diego) guard Tyce Paulsen. Curtis defeated league rival Olympia in 2023 in the state championship game at the Tacoma Dome.
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 12:15 PM.
