Alan "Al" Aldridge was named new women’s basketball head coach April 11, 2012 at Clark College. Aldridge joins the Penguin Nation after 32 years as the head girls basketball coach at Prairie High School.
During his tenure at Prairie, Coach Aldridge guided the Falcons Girls to 27 State Tournament Appearances, and 25 state trophies including 6 State Championships. His most recent, was winning the 3-A Washington Title in 2012. Al was America's only HS Girls Coach awarded with over 700 Career wins at the WBCA National final four Convention this year. At Prairie his teams went 719 and 139 under his coaching. That s a wining percentage of over 83% and all at Prairie High School.
Coach Aldridge has turned out over 100 NCAA Division I, II and III Athletes from Prairie and another 100 more from other schools through his Columbia Cascades Basketball Summer Club. He is the all time winningest coach in Washington State big school History.
One of the highlights to Coach Aldridge's career at Prairie was being selected as the National Runner Up for Coach of the Year in 2000. He was selected to coach the WBCA All-American Game in Hartford, Connecticut on National TV. (Winning)
Coach Aldridge's Team's always pride themselves in being disciplined, and playing aggressive defense. His "team is family" approach will be welcomed at Clark College as we watch the development of our Clark Athletes preparing for Life and for some , 4 year basketball opportunities.
Al graduated from Ft. Vancouver HS, Mt. Hood CC, and Central Washington University. He received his Masters Degree at Lewis and Clark University in Portland. All of his degrees were in Music Education and Saxophone performance. He taught Instrumental Music in the Battle Ground School District for 31 years. He was a highly successful Band Director at Prairie HS from 1980 until 2003. Since retiring from Prairie, Al has help guide the Jazz Band Programs at Hockinson HS and Mt. View HS. He currently directs the Beacock Music New Horizons Jazz Big Band.
Al has been married to wife Jeannie for 13 years. Their family consists of a Black Lab named Cole Porter, 2 cats, Ashley and Wilson, and a Turtle name Louise. Al's life is filled with the passion for Basketball. He is an avid fan, and studies the game year around. He loves to fish and hunt.
