Highlanders coach takes second job
Piedmont High School girls basketball coach Bryan Gardere said the summer is super-busy for him, with basketball camps, open gymnasiums and weight lifting, among other activities.
That’s not to say the winter isn’t busy.
Gardere has spent the past four years as an assistant coach with the very successful Laney College program in addition to his duties with the Highlanders, a job he has held since 2002-03.
Now, Gardere is taking on some extra duties. After head coach Ramaundo Vaughn left Laney in May to take an assistant job at Fresno State, Gardere is now the head coach for the Eagles.
“They basically kept the whole staff together,” Gardere said. “We’re all still together, figuring we’ll do it all by committee.”
Gardere downplayed how much extra work he’ll be undertaking. Brandon Thomas and Matthew Johnson will work with Gardere to keep the same offense and defense running.
“I think they’re going to do co-coaches,” Gardere said. “You kind of fill the gaps everywhere. I think we’re going to keep a lot of stuff in play. We’re going to do the lock-left (on defense). We’re going to do the same defense. Keep the offense side of the ball going. We use a lot of the same shooting drills. A lot is going to stay the same.”
Gardere said he coached a lot of the transition game in the past and will keep that assignment. He’ll have to oversee study halls and keep an eye on his players’ grades now.
Gardere said the team will return a good chunk of the roster and keeping things the same was important for the returning women.
The Eagles went 26-4 last season and went 95-21 in Vaughn’s four years in charge. Gardere said the program is in a very good place.
“The team is going to be pretty solid,” he said. “Very solid, actually.”
Gardere is not the only Piedmont coach to tackle the junior college level at the same time as coaching the Highlanders. Former girls soccer coach Dan Chubbock is also the women’s coach at Chabot College. However, Chabot plays soccer in the fall while Piedmont plays in the winter. Gardere will have to oversee two teams with overlapping seasons. He said in the past, he would be with Piedmont on the occasional gameday when both were scheduled. This season, the two schedules have no conflicts.
“It will make my days a little more full,” Gardere said. “It should be pretty good.”
Piedmont girls basketball coach Bryan Gardere (center) confers with the officials before a 2024 CIF playoff game. Gardere is entering his 24th season as Highlanders coach. 
Bryan Gardere watches the action from the sidelines during an NCS playoff game at Cardinal Newman.
The Highlanders are expected to once again be one of the best teams in the East Bay, with a solid core of rising sophomores that led 2024-25 team into the California Interscholastic Federation Division 1 playoffs. Andrea Martin, Jenelle Solis and Savannah Dennig are a threesome that a coach just isn’t going to walk away from.
“We love the Highlanders,” said Gardere, a PHS graduate in 1994. He’s entering his 24th year as Piedmont’s head coach.
“We’re chasing something special here,” Gardere said. “Everybody is a year older. (Martin) is getting taller, filling in. (Rising junior) Taylor (White) has probably taken the biggest summertime leap. We made it to the semis last year in D1, something along those ways is the plan.”