'Heck of a run': Porterville boys basketball coach Lance Wallace retires after 24 seasons

Longtime Porterville High School boys basketball coach Lance Wallace is hanging up his clipboard.

Wallace retired as the Panthers head coach after 24 seasons in May and will now take over as the school’s athletic director.

During his reign, according to Central Section historian Bob Barnett, Wallace directed Porterville to a 356-292 overall record from 2001-24. He led the Panthers to seven league championships, a Central Section Division III title in 2015 and a pair of runner-up section plaques in 2005 and 2023.

Wallace culminated his coaching career as the fifth-winningest head coach in Tulare County history, surpassing former Central Valley Christian, Tulare Western, Redwood and Exeter head coach Randy Reeder, who compiled a 350-247 mark.

Under Wallace, his Porterville teams averaged nearly 15 wins per season.

“With getting the athletic director job at Porterville High, I just wanted to make sure my focus is there,” Wallace said. “I know how basketball season is and I know how that can totally engulf your thoughts and be the main thing you think about. I didn’t want that to happen. I just wanted to make sure that I focused on being the director of athletics at Porterville High and be able to step back and watch basketball.”

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For Wallace, coaching was more than basketball.

“There are so many memories,” Wallace said. “The memories are all about relationships, you know, the relationships that you create and that you have throughout our community and our area.”

One of Wallace’s favorite things about coaching was leading his teams at the annual Polly Wilhelmsen Invitational in Visalia — a tournament where he, his dad, Bob, and two sons, Treager and Garin, all played in.

Treager and Garin both earned All-Polly Wilhelmsen honors during their playing days.

Wallace helped direct Porterville to a pair of Polly Wilhelmsen Invitational championships in 2007 and 2022.

“I think obviously winning the Polly Wilhelmsen tournament a couple of times was pretty special because my father played,” Wallace said. “I played when I played at Monache. My kids have played and I coached so many games there. Pretty much most of my life, I’ve been attending or playing at the Polly Wilhelmsen tournament so those are real special.”

Hustle and effort.

That was the backbone of a Wallace-coached team.

Wallace’s squads were known for their work ethic.

What did Wallace want his players to take away from basketball?

“I just think it was all about competition and competing and knowing nothing’s going to be given to you and don’t expect anything to be given to you," Wallace said. "Work hard. I think if you talk to most coaches around here who played against us, one thing about Porterville is we always played hard, really, really hard. Very together. Sometimes, our X's and O's were lacking in certain areas but we were going to dive on the floor for a loose ball and try to get those 50-50 balls. It was just about playing hard and compete, and knowing that if you do well out here, it was going to be great practice when you go out to the real world and have to compete for a job."

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Longtime Tulare Union head coach Mark Hatton and Wallace teams faced off annually when both programs were members of the East Yosemite League.

What were those games like?

"You just knew you were going to be in a battle," Hatton said. "Hard place to play — home or away. I think one night, we got beat on an 85-foot shot. You never knew what was going to happen. It was a tremendous rivalry."

With Wallace retiring, Hatton is now the only active Tulare County high school boys basketball head coach to coach at the same school for at least two decades.

Wallace and Hatton began their head-to-head coaching battles in 2002 — Hatton's first year at Tulare Union.

"Lance had a heck of a run," Hatton said. "He's won more EYL games than anybody who ever coached in that league, so that’s quite an accomplishment. Him and his staff did an awesome job."

In 24 seasons, Wallace coached more than 640 games and retired as the winningest coach in Porterville city history.

"How you last that long, that's a testament to how he treats kids and what kids think about him," Hatton said. "Anybody that's been doing it as long as Lance has, when they get out, they're definitely going to be missed."

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: 'Heck of a run': Porterville boys basketball coach Lance Wallace retires after 24 seasons