Raub Steps Down After Consecutive Titles at Kennedy

Craig Raub, who led the the Kennedy High girls basketball team to two straight City Section 4-A Division titles, resigned as coach Tuesday but will continue to teach at the school.

Raub, 35, had a nine-year record of 176-22. His teams never lost a league game and he leaves with a league winning streak of 90 games intact.

“I want to take the energies and the commitment I made as a coach and channel them into other things,” said Raub, who will continue to coach the boys tennis team at Kennedy. “I needed a break from the pace of putting in three to four hours a day into basketball.”

Kennedy won the City title in 1981 as well as the past two seasons under Raub. He was named Valley Coach of the Year by The Times each of the past three years. Despite losing four starters, this season’s team was 23-4.

“Junior high coaches in the area say the best talent ever is coming up,” Raub said. “So I’m certain that the winning tradition at Kennedy will continue.”

Raub said he might return to coaching in the future, but he is not interested in coaching at the college level.

“I’ve had opportunities to take college jobs as an assistant and I’ve turned them down,” Raub said. “That’s not what I’m after. There are just other things I want to do. Things that I put on hold to make the program go.”