Early last week, Roaring Fork High School Athletics Director Crista Barlow announced that the Rams have hired veteran Front Range coach Albert Blanc to guide the girls’ basketball team at the school. He replaces Juan Quintero, who coached the Rams the past four seasons.

Though he amassed most of his 650-plus wins at Eastern Slope schools such as Falcon, Pueblo East, Discovery Canyon and Swink, Blanc is no stranger to the Western Slope of Colorado, having made coaching stops at Delta and Rifle also.

Blanc, a 1966 Glenwood High graduate, was a two-year all-conference and all-state player for Coach Bob Chavez. Following high school, he went on to play collegiately at then Western State College in Gunnison. He served as a student teacher and freshman basketball coach at Glenwood in 1976.

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Blanc won a state championship at 2A Swink in 1996 and was inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame in 2018. He ranks fourth on the list of all-time coaching victories in Colorado behind only Rudy Carey (Denver East), Dick Katte (Denver Christian), and Ken Shaw (Regis Jesuit).

Blanc will inherit a team coming off a 6-14 campaign in 2023, but he sees a great deal of potential in the many young players the Rams currently have on the roster, as well as a talented group of incoming freshmen.

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“This job means a lot to me,” he said in a phone interview from his home in Colorado Springs. “I get an opportunity to work with a group of quality young people and to try and bring back the hope and spirit of the Roaring Fork girls’ basketball program. It all starts with hard work, defense, rebounding and the classroom. That’s what it’s all about.”

Coach Blanc will be introduced to the Roaring Fork basketball community at a meet-and-greet this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the school gymnasium. Parents and prospective players are encouraged to attend.