Downey hired as A.D., boys basketball coach at Bigfork

Josh Downey, a 1999 graduate of Bigfork High School, will return to his hometown as athletics director and boys basketball coach, Bigfork High School principal Matt Porrovecchio announced Friday.

Downey spent the past four years as the head boys basketball coach at Timberline High School in Boise, Idaho. He has also been a graduate assistant basketball coach at Gonzaga University and an assistant coach at Concordia College and Whitworth University. His first head coaching job was at Heritage High School in Vancouver, Wash.

Downey was a two-time all-conference selection as a student at Bigfork and led the basketball team in scoring two of his four years. He also played basketball as an undergraduate at Concordia and led the team in scoring his senior year.

“It was a good opportunity to be the athletic director and be a head basketball coach, most places do not offer both,” Downey said of accepting the job at Bigfork. “And just coming back to a place I’ve called home a long time, I’m excited to come back and serve the community and the school.”

Downey replaces former boys basketball coach and athletics director Kurt Paulson, who left Bigfork to become an assistant men’s basketball coach under Wayne Tinkle at the University of Montana.

“I talked to Kurt a lot about it and he had some good players, and he said he’s got some good players coming through so hopefully it pans out for us,” Downey said. “They only return a couple guys that got significant minutes, but he had really good things to say about the JV guys coming up.”

Downey will get started Aug. 12 when he will meet students and parents at Bigfork High School’s fall sports meeting.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in K-12 physical education and health from Concordia and completed his master’s in sport and athletic administration at Gonzaga.