Eli Lopez has been named the new boys ba
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sketball coach at Mountain Ridge High School in the for the 2011-12 academic year.
Lopez currently teaches math at Barry Goldwater High School.
He'll be the third coach in three seasons for the Mountain Lions, following Craig Marcus in 2009-10 and Jeff Fore in 2010-11. Mountain Ridge had a roller-coaster 2010-11, starting 0-9 before making a run to the finals of the McClintock Holiday Shootout. The team finished 12-13, and 9-5 in Northwest Region play.
Lopez played for his father, local coaching legend David, at Apollo High School. He wrapped up his playing career with two seasons at Arizona State University, including the 1995 team that reached the Sweet 16.
Lopez has held assistant coaching positions for boys basketball at Arizona State University in 1996, where his team qualified to compete in the National Invitational Tournament and most recently at St. Mary’s High School, where he helped his father lead the boy’s basketball team to multiple region, tournament, and state championships.
Lopez was also a co-recipient of the Inaugural Cotton Fitzsimmons’ Spirit of the Cotton Award by the Phoenix Suns due to his volunteering services at many charitable basketball camps and organizations.
