Ed Azzam to come out of retirement, coach middle school basketball

Ed Azzam and Harvey Kitani coached basketball a combined 77 years at rival schools in the City Section, Azzam at Westchester (42 years) and Kitani at Fairfax (35). Both retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District. Except the retirements didn’t last long.

Kitani has become a successful coach and athletic director at Rolling Hills Prep. He had his eyes on his friend, Azzam, as soon as he announced in June he was stepping down at Westchester.

This weekend, Kitani confirmed that he has hired Azzam to run the middle school basketball program for Rolling Hills Prep.

“We’re excited,” Kitani said.

Azzam guided Westchester to 15 City championships and a City-record 932 victories. For him to team with Kitani is quite an intriguing development.

“After all these years going against each other, we’re going to be under the same umbrella,” Kitani said.

Now, if only Kitani can convince Azzam to sit next to him at varsity games. Stay tuned.