Three years ago, Jaamal Rhodes took over a Sabino High School girls basketball program that hadn’t had a winning season since 2014. Three years later, he led the program to a 28-4 record and the Class 3A State Championship, the first for the program since 1990.
Rhodes will now try to win it all again — at a new school. Rhodes has been named the head coach at AZ Compass Prep School in Chandler. He will take assistant coach Jeremy Daniels with him.
Rhodes is the second Sabino basketball coach to leave in recent months: Marty Roth, coach of the boys team, left earlier this spring to start the program at Vail’s Mica Mountain. The Sabercats replaced Roth with former Tucson High coach Daryl Jones.
“The ultimate goal has always been to help young athletes maximize whatever talent they have been blessed with,” Rhodes said. “In essence, that doesn’t change. The challenge now is how much better can we be at doing so given the advantage that Compass affords us.”
AZ Compass is a charter high school that competes at the varsity level in the Canyon Athletic Association, meaning it plays an independent national schedule. It does not play traditional Arizona Interscholastic Association schools, per AIA rules. Last season, AZ Compass’ boys team played in national showcase events in eight different states.
“After speaking with Compass and hearing what they wanted to do as far as building a quality girls’ program to mirror their boys’, several of those things aligned with what Jeremy and I had been discussing for years,” Rhodes said.
The Star's Alec White interviews Adia Barnes and Salvo Coppa from Arizona women's basketball on the death of Kobe Bryant. Barnes first met Bryant in 1999 and Coppa knew Kobe's father from coaching overseas.
“We let them know what things we thought were important and they let us know if it was feasible.
“From there, you just start checking boxes off as far as what is and isn’t a deal-breaker. Based on all that, it was tough not to take this opportunity.”
The tough part?
“Getting permission from my wife,” Rhodes joked.
Sabino players celebrate with their Coach Jaamal Rhodes their win over Page during their Class 3A Championship game in February.
A travel schedule isn’t the only difference between playing at a prep school and a regular high school, Rhodes said.
“Physicality, speed and consistent level of competition are some of the big differences right away,” Rhodes said. “In some instances, being able to play with college rules like shot clocks, different quarter lengths and bonus situations will only be a plus for those kids preparing for hoops after high school.”
Rhodes is used to building a successful program. He engineered a 13-win improvement in his first season at Sabino, and posted more wins every season he was in charge. Sabino was the top-ranked team in 3A before being placed on probation for a prior-contact violation last season during the 2019 season.
Rhodes said he remembers the look on his players’ faces when he told them they were disqualified. Rhodes said watching his players celebrate this year’s title was the “ultimate redemption” for not just himself and the players, but the school and parents as well.
“As coaches, sometimes we’d like to think it is the schemes or plays, but I can’t take too much credit,” he added. “In my first season, Kamryn Doty came in and I had a couple of veteran players who wanted to change the perception of girls basketball not only at the school, but around the city.
“They worked really hard and we were able to turn the tide.”
