Athletics Personnel
Staff
| 
| | Jim Ketcham 
Athletic Director
Phone: (415) 447-3114 |
|  | | Diane Schroeder
Associate Athletic Director
Phone: (415) 447-3144 |
|  | | Mary Beth Todd
Assistant Athletic Director
Phone: (415) 447-3143 |
Coaches
Badminton
Amrita Zerbe began coaching at UHS in the 2008-2009 season, when she led the team to a 16-1 record, a league title and their best NCS finish ever in spring of 2009. Previously, she headed up the girls high school badminton program in Palo Alto. An excellent player in her own right, Amrita won a doubles title while at Stanford in the Collegiate Nationals, helping her team to the overall team title as well. Since graduation she has competed in local Bay Area Open Division tournaments, winning titles in singles and both womens and mixed doubles. She graduated from Stanford University with a degree in mathematical and computational sciences
Diane Schroeder was a founding faculty member at UHS and has headed the varsity badminton program for more than 25 years. The team’s record over this period is 176-30. Diane was the NCS Honor Coach of the Year in 2006. She now assists head coach Amrita Zerbe.
Boys Baseball
Gary W. Johnson enters his
second year as UHS Boy’s Varsity Baseball Coach. Gary began coaching in 1997 as an assistant and in 2001
became head coach of the San Francisco based North Beach Pirates. That team evolved into a very successful
Summer Program. Gary’s coaching philosophy is to play an up-tempo aggressive
game, which focuses on attacking the opponent while at bat and keeping the
physical mistakes on the field to a minimum. Gary is a native of Berkeley,
California and has been employed by the University of California for 28 years.
He is currently an Assistant Varsity Coach for football at Balboa High School.
Gary is assisted by Martin Levinson (2nd year).
Gary is assisted by Marty Levinson, a teacher and former baseball coach at the Town School. Marty played college baseball at Skidmore. 
Tevis Martin, 2nd
year as Assistant Varsity Baseball Coach, received All-County and All-WCAL
honors at Serra High School, played at Cal, and also for New Pisa in the San
Francisco Semi-pro league. He has
over 25 years coaching experience at the youth and high school levels. By day,
he is an executive at Sport Supply Group, a leader in team sports equipment and
uniforms. Tevis also holds an MBA
from the University of San Francisco.
Boys Basketball
Randy Bessolo has been the Red Devils’ varsity head coach since the 2005–2006 season. An All CIF-Southern Section player at the Thacher School in Ojai, California, Randy led his team to the section Final Four as a senior, also serving as team captain of both the basketball and baseball teams. He continued his basketball career at Columbia University. He holds degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Business School.
Randy’s coaching background includes five years with the Illinois Warriors Basketball Club in Chicago. In San Francisco, he has teamed up with JV head coach
Evan Jones to help run the Bay Area Warriors Basketball Club. Randy has over 20 years’ experience working with urban youth as part of several organizations including the Catholic Big Brother, Cabrini-Green Tutoring and Mercy Boys Home Hoops for Homework programs.
Matt Harris has been a boys varsity assistant coach since 2007. Matt’s basketball coaching experience includes two seasons at Pacific Union College in St. Helena, and one season with Napa Valley College in Napa. Matt is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree in exercise physiology. While at Arizona, he earned two NCAA D1 National Championships and two PAC-10 Championships as the student manager the University of Arizona womens softball program. Matt is currently the director of business development for CleanOffer, Inc., a San Francisco-based Internet tool for real estate agents and their clients.
Evan Jones ’99 has coached the boys’ JV team since 2003. Evan starred in both basketball and baseball while a student at UHS. He has helped the JV program to achieve both competitive success and full integration (philosophically and tactically) with the varsity program. Evan is also the founder and director of the First Base Foundation, a local non-profit organization focusing on youth excellence in athletics and academics.
Demond Walker began coaching boys Frosh/Soph in 2008. The Director of Student Multicultural Affairs here at UHS, Demond is also the golf coach. In high school Demond lettered in cross country, football, wrestling and volleyball and walked on to play basketball at Northern Illinois University. Demond is a key player on the UHS Faculty/Staff Intramural Basketball team.
Girls Basketball
Bobby Henshel has been the head girls coach since 2008. The 2008-2009 team finished with a 15-13 record and made it to the first round of NCS. He previously served as the head coach of The Archer School for Girls varsity basketball and tennis teams as well as the JV boys and 8th grade boys head coach at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles. As a member of his high school varsity soccer, basketball, and tennis teams at the Thacher School, he was an integral part of his CIF-SS Final Four basketball and CIF-SS Championship tennis teams. For the past six years, Bobby taught middle and high school mathematics and served as a grade level dean at The Archer School for Girls but recently took a break from teaching to pursue his Masters in Educational Administration at San Francisco State University.
The 2009-2010 season is Sarah Levant's first season as the Freshman/Sophomore Girls basketball coach. Sarah graduated from the University of Miami in 2008. While in school, she worked for the Division I Men's Basketball program. In high school, Sarah competed as a four-sport varsity athlete at Tampa Preparatory School in Florida, from which she graduated in 2004. As a senior, Sarah was the captain of the varsity basketball team and dedicated her study hall and extra time after school to coach the middle school girls basketball team.
Cross-Country, Track and Field
Since joining the UHS cross country and track and field program in 1995, Head Coach Jim Tracy has helped build a running dynasty. Coach Tracy was recognized as girls cross country Coach of the Year in 2004 by the California Coaches Association.
During his tenure, UHS cross country teams have combined for 25 Bay Counties League or Conference titles and 20 North Coast Section titles (ten for the girls and ten for the boys). The girls team has won the state title three of the past eight years and the boys team finished third in the state in 2008. The Red Devils six girls state titles are the leading total of any girls cross country program in the state.
Jim is assisted by Kevin Cruikshank in both sports and by UHS English instructor Stella Beale in cross country. Stella Beale has been teaching English and coaching at UHS since 2007. She ran cross country in high school in North Carolina and has been running, rowing and swimming ever since. She was the head coach for cross country and track for the middle school at Greenhills. Kevin Cruikshank has also coached for Lowell and McAteer high schools as well as the San Francisco-based Impala Women’s Running Club
Other assistant coaches for the running program include UHS alumnus Miles Horton '09, former UHS parent Bill Cirocco and Richard Mull .
Fencing
Peter Burchard, a tremendous fencer in his own right and a master teacher who operates a leading fencing academy in San Francisco, has been coaching the UHS fencing team since its creation in the 2003-2004 school year. In 2006, the team joined the San Francisco Section with eligibility to compete for the AAA league title, which the UHS boys have won three times, while the girls took second place in 2008.
Field Hockey
Laura Oswald joined the UHS field hockey program in 2007, becoming head coach in 2008. Laura played field hockey at R. L. Stevenson High School in Monterey and then at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. At Wheaton, she was a two-year co-captain and earned All-New England and Academic All-American honors. After graduating from Wheaton, she worked for several non-profit organizations in Tanzania and Argentina. Currently, Laura captains a team that competes in the Northern California Field Hockey Associations Womens Adult League. Outside UHS, Laura works as a fitness professional.
Alexandra Brown join UHS in the fall of 2009 as the assistant field hockey coach. In high school, Alex played at University Liggett School in Michigan. She went on to the University of Colorado at Boulder (2004) and later earned her MHSA from Georgetown University. Alex lives in San Francisco and works for Cogent Communications, an Internet Service Provider.
Golf
Demond Walker has been head coach since 2008. The Director of Multicultural Affairs at UHS, Demond is also the boys frosh/soph. basketball coach. In high school Demond lettered in cross country, football, wrestling and volleyball and walked on to play basketball at Northern Illinois University. His passion for golf started when he worked for a community service program that connected inner city youth to golf and he has been in love with the game ever since (now sporting a mid-single digit handicap).
Boys Lacrosse
Braden Edwards and Nick Lockwood moved up from assistant coach positions to their new roles as co-head coaches of the boys lacrosse team for the 2010 season. The lacrosse program at UHS has won six consecutive league titles and has averaged a #8 ranking among all Northern California lacrosse schools over those years.
Braden Edwards has been part of the Red Devil coaching staff since 2001 and handled defensive coaching responsibilities in 2009. He graduated from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
Nick Lockwood has coached at UHS since 2007, focusing on the offense. A former mid-die at the Naval Academy where he led his teams to top ten NCAA rankings, Nick’s offense coaching helped to produce over 200 goals in 2009. Nick has coached high school lacrosse at Norfolk Academy and Coronado High School.
Nick and Braden will be assisted by Lou Sabino, a former player at the University of Virginia. Lou became Assistant Director of Admission at UHS in 2009.
Girls Lacrosse
Mary Beth (MB) Todd took over the UHS girls lacrosse program in 2007 after leaving UC Berkeley, where she served as assistant coach for the womens lacrosse team. MB inherited a team that was the two-time defending MCAL champion and the North Coast Section runner-up in 2005. MB captained the lacrosse and field hockey teams at The College of William & Mary in Virginia, where she graduated with a degree in English. She also holds a Masters in Sports Management from USF. MB is also extremely active in NorCal womens lacrosse circles, as a member of the Northern California Womens Lacrosse Association and as a coach for BearLax, a local club program.
MB is also assisted by Allison Ambrozy who played for 2007 NCAA runner-up, Penn.
Tomomi Sugawara-Kim, “Tomo,” has served as the varsity assistant coach
since the 2007 season. A native of Japan, she enjoyed a successful
collegiate playing career at the Tokyo Women's College of Physical
Education, where her team won the Japanese national college
championship three out of four years. She helped lead her Japanese
club Team, Wisteria LC, to five consecutive Japanese national
championship titles. Tomo coached a high school team near her hometown
in Japan for two years.
Robin Harvey was the
assistant coach for the womens lacrosse team at Colorado College in 2008. She
has coached lacrosse camps for the past 6 years. Robin was a midfielder on the
varsity lacrosse team for Colorado College for 4 years, and played varsity
soccer for a year. While she was at CC, Robin helped lead the lacrosse team to
the NCAA tournament 4 times. Robin received All-American recognition her senior
year at CC and continues to play both sports. She graduated from CC with her
degree in History in 2007.
Girls Soccer
Molly Hellerman is new to the
UHS coaching staff. She will serve as the program’s first goalkeeper coach.
Molly was a four-year starter at Wellesley College and held the #1 NCAA
Division III rank for the lowest Goals Against Average in her senior year.
Molly’s post-college career included stints with the Houston Tornadoes
(W-League) and Chelsea Ladies FC (English Premier League). Originally from
Chicago, Molly has coached at the collegiate, youth and club levels across the
country. Molly holds NSCAA National, Regional and State Goalkeeping
certifications. Molly is a graduate of Wellesley College and has a Masters in
Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
Katie Loomis played varsity
soccer for two years at Stadium High School in Tacoma, WA. She continued on to UC Santa Cruz where
she was a starter for all four years in goal and made it to the Sweet 16 with
18 total shutouts. She received 6
awards that year including Goalkeeper of the Year and NCAA First Team West
Region. After college, she played
for the semi-pro team SF Nighthawks and played professionally in Sweden. She has coached soccer since her
freshman year including two years at Aptos High School and volunteer keeper
coach at Academy of Art University.
The 2010 season is Laura
Ladringan’s first season as the JV Girls’ Soccer head coach. She graduated in 2005 from Boston
University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. In high school, Laura
competed as a four-sport varsity athlete in soccer, basketball, tennis, and
track and field, and she has been playing competitive soccer since the age of 8.
Laura is currently the Assistant Women’s Soccer Coach at City College of San
Francisco and holds a NSCAA State Diploma coaching license. She is also
currently working towards earning a master’s degree in Industrial Arts from San
Francisco State University.
Boys Soccer
Since 2004, when Deejae Johnson took over the UHS soccer program as the head boys and girls coach, his teams have won eight of ten league titles. Deejae was a four-year starter at the University of Vermont, leading the team in scoring his senior year while being named All-Region. Deejae’s post-college playing career included stints with the San Francisco Bay Seals, the Cape Cod Crusaders, the New Hampshire Phantoms and the Vermont Voltage. He coached high school teams in Vermont and led his boys’ team to the state title. Prior to joining UHS, Deejae was a member of the Cal coaching staff for both the mens and womens teams.
He also coaches the Marin FC U15, Marin United u23 and u21 and Olympic Club womens team. Deejae holds a USSF A license, NSCAA Advanced National Diploma, English FA prelim badge and a Dutch KNVB diploma. This summer Deejae was a member of the Cal North Olympic Development staff, working with the boys U19 team that placed four players in the National Pool.
Deejae is a graduate of the University of Vermont and has a Masters in Sports Psychology from the Kennedy School of Professional Psychology in Orinda. He is the director of SoccerInsight which runs skill development camps and programs.
Vip Gupta started as assistant coach with the boys varsity soccer team in 2007, when he joined the UHS science department as a physics instructor. Before coming to UHS, Vip was head coach of the boys’ soccer team at Wasatch Academy, a perennial state title contender in Utah. His own soccer history starts with his role as a midfielder at Naperville North High School in suburban Illinois, where he also was a top-flight wrestler. Today Vip enjoys a wide variety of outdoor sports including mountain biking, back-country skiing and whitewater rafting.
Evan Heymann led the boys JV soccer team in the Fall of 2008.
Evan grew up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and majored in political science at Western
New England College where he continued his
soccer career as a forward. He was the captain of this squad and had
27 career goals. During his summers in college, he trained with the
New England Aztecs. Prior to his move West, Evan trained with FC
Novoli while studying in Florence, Italy. He currently serves as a
teacher of English as a second language.
Assistant Coach Kenny Logan came to UHS in 2008 to teach English. Although he had some brilliant moments on the
fields behind Laura Donovan Elementary School in Freehold, New Jersey, when he
was nine years old, it's been some time since Kenny's been involved
seriously with "the beautiful game" of soccer. He is an avid runner.
Swimming
Swim coach Jenny Kline began coaching at UHS in 2007 when she joined the school’s history department. Her own athletic background is diverse and includes volleyball, basketball and swimming in high school and serving as the coxswain for the womens crew team while at Georgetown.
She has 11 years of high school coaching experience between crew and swimming at her former schools: Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut, and the Sage Hill School in San Diego.
Boys Tennis
UHS Athletic Director
Jim Ketcham began coaching boys tennis in 2007. A two-time Ohio State high school doubles champion, Jim played college tennis at Princeton University, where he was also a member of the Tigers national championship squash team. While in college, Jim also served as a head tennis club professional in Toledo, Ohio. Before joining the UHS faculty, Jim earned an MBA from Stanford University and had a career in financial services including stints at McKinsey & Co., Wells Fargo Band and eBenefits. He also headed the San Francisco Little League for five years.
Girls Tennis
John Yandell began coaching UHS girls’ varsity tennis in 1981, making his the longest tenure of any of our coaches. John’s teams have won over 300 matches and posted an overall winning percentage of 75%. His UHS teams have won 13 league titles including seven in the past ten years. Many of his players have gone on to play college tennis.
John is one of the nation’s leading experts in the study and teaching of the professional game through his work for Advanced Tennis Research and his online instructional magazine Tennisplayer.net. John speaks at coaching conventions around the world, and is also an instructional editor for Tennis magazine. He heads the John Yandell Tennis School here in San Francisco.
John is assisted by Kelly and Lauren Hickey, who played college tennis at USF.
Lauren Hickey is a recent graduates of University of San Francisco
where she earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in exercise sport and science. Lauren played varsity college tennis for four years. The
first two years were at Santa Rosa Junior College where she earned all
American Honors in both singles and doubles. She completed her college
career at University of San Francisco where she earned scholar athlete honors both years. She
is currently working towards earning her Masters of Science from San
Francisco State University. Her passion for exercise and
tennis has led her to pursue careers in teaching and coaching. She
has coached at UHS since 2007.
Volleyball
Ki Choi joined the UHS volleyball program in 2008, when the girls earned the league title. Ki had nine years of high school coaching experience at Coronado High School in Colorado in the ’90s. He moved on to the college ranks, first as the assistant coach at the University of Colorado–Colorado Springs for two years, followed by one year as assistant coach at Metro State College, and finally as the assistant coach for three years at the University of San Francisco. At the club level, Ki coached for six years in Colorado before he joined the SF Juniors Volleyball Club in 2002. He has coached teams at all age levels and serves as the director of the SF Juniors Club.
Jenna Grigsby became assistant coach in 2008. Jenna played for Brentwood High School in Los Angeles as well as on a club team, and went on to become a libero and captain of the highly ranked 2003 UC Berkeley volleyball team. She formerly served as Phil Jackson’s personal assistant with the Lakers.
Dana Loberg joined the UHS program in 2009 as assistant varsity coach. She has played as an outside hitter in volleyball since she was nine, and played for Marymount High School and club teams in Los Angeles. Dana was recruited to play for Yale University where she received Most Improved Player 2001 and graduated with a B.A .in history in 2003. She continued to play volleyball on the Urban Professional League in New York City from 2003- 2008 while she worked in advertising as a copywriter and was a painter.
Bridgett Blough became JV volleyball coach in 2009. After a successful high school career at Lake Michigan Catholic School , she went on to Kalamazoo College where she played middle blocker. During college, she earned several awards, including Offensive MVP and Most Improved Player. She has a B.A. in economics and business with a minor in studio art. Bridgett is a personal trainer, Boot Camp Coach and Certified Yoga Instructor.
Softball
Jessica
Skylar joined the University High School team as the softball coach in
Spring 2010. She brings five years of softball coaching experience from
Urban High School, the SF Fog and SF Angels 14U and 16U A, and San Francisco
Little League. Jess grew up playing softball in high school and
competitive travel ball in Southern California and began coaching in high
school. Jess is a graduate of American University in Washington DC where
she earned BA's in International Development and CLEG (Communication, Law,
Economics and Government) followed by an MA in International Peace and Conflict
Resolution. She is currently the Executive Vice President at HIP Investor
and, in her spare time, plays soccer and softball.
Marie Trexler was the captain of her
varsity softball team in high school and played three years of softball at
Dartmouth College. She earned an MBA at the University of Virginia
then spent many years working in (and around) Eastern Europe and Russia.
She is currently on hiatus from a career in venture capital having held
various executive positions. She
is excited to work with the softball coaches and get involved with UHS students.
