Tyler Davis has been named Mountain Brook High School’s varsity boys basketball coach after serving 11 seasons as assistant coach in the program.
Davis, who also has coached the junior varsity team, takes the place of Bucky McMillan, who left the school this year for a coaching job at Samford University.
“Coach Davis is a wonderful person and already has a great working relationship with everyone in our athletic department,” MBHS Athletics Director Benny Eaves said in a statement. “He is a loving and committed father and husband, someone with a great appreciation of the responsibility the position holds and is committed to developing our student-athletes, not just athletically, but socially and emotionally as well.”
During the period when Davis was coaching, Mountain Brook made seven state finals and won five state championships, from 2013-2020. In 2019, the team ended the season ranked fifth nationally by USA Today, according to a release from the city’s Board of Education, which approved the promotion Monday.
“I’m honored and humbled to be a part of and lead this program,” Davis said. “I take this responsibility seriously and will continue to work hard as we strive to reach new heights.”
Davis played on the Samford team from 1994-98, winning a full basketball scholarship after playing at Concord High School in Elkhart. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Samford and a master’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Montevallo.
Davis began his coaching career in 1999 at Vestavia Hills High School, where he led the junior varsity and assisted with the varsity program during his nine-year tenure. He joined Mountain Brook in 2008 and coached the junior high ninth grade team for one year before moving to the high school slot.
“He is the only coach that has been part of the coaching staff from the beginning of Coach McMillan’s tenure until his departure,” Eaves said. “During that time, Coach Davis has been a valued and respected part of the building of our current culture and program. He has helped create and implement change along the way. His insight into where we were as a program and how we arrived at this point is priceless.”
Davis plans to maintain and build on the team’s culture.
“We’re not going to change very much. We’re going to come in here, work hard, press, play fast on offense,” Davis said. “I think it will be a smooth transition.
“I’m excited to take over this program,” Davis said at the press conference Thursday. “I’m honored and humbled to be a part of it and in charge of it.”
Davis also will teach PE at the school. He and his wife, Ashley, live in Mountain Brook with their three children: Ty, Trey and Avery.
Sara Halasz has been hired as Mountain Brook High School’s varsity girls head basketball coach, the same position she has held at Pinson Valley High School for the past four seasons.
“Through the interview process, numerous meetings and extensive conversations with contacts within the basketball coaching community — both locally and nationally — we are confident that we have the right coach in Sara Halasz to direct our program,” MBHS Athletics Director Benny Eaves said in a statement.
The Mountain Brook Board of Education approved her hiring May 18.
“Very excited is an understatement,” said Sara Halasz at the press conference on Thursday. “The girls are buying in very well. They’re enjoying being back on the court.”
Halasz played at the University of New Mexico from the 2008-09 year to the 2013-14 year, earning a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in the process. She tallied more than 1,000 points and 500 rebounds as a guard for the Lobos. Following her collegiate career, Halasz played professionally in Germany and the Czech Republic before she started coaching.
