After leading the Burroughs High boys’ basketball team to one of its best seasons in school history, Coach Adam Hochberg has stepped down. Hochberg cited a desire to spend more time with his two young children.
“Basketball has become pretty much a year-round sport so this has been in the back of mind for about a year now,” Hochberg said. “I have a 4-year old son and 2-year old daughter at home that I want to spend more time with and I can’t get back the time I spend away from them at such a young age. They are growing up too fast as it is, so I don’t want to sacrifice that much time anymore. Basketball has consumed my life for the last 19 years so I want to take a step back and control my time more.”
In seven seasons, the 38-year-old Hochberg went 85-107 overall and 35-63 in the Pacific League. He will remain at Burroughs as a social studies teacher and said he may assist the program in a supervisory role.
This past season the Indians went 22-8 overall and 9-5 in league. The team went on to win three consecutive CIF Southern Section Division IA playoff games and reach the semifinals for the first time in 26 years. Burroughs was eventually defeated by top seed and eventual champion Santa Monica, 68-45.
“(It is) tough to step away after we had such a great season and have been very competitive over the past four years,” Hochberg said. “We have a lot of talent returning as well on the basketball side of things. It is hard to leave knowing that the cupboard is full. We had a special group of seniors this season and my goal was to make it through this group and then re-evaluate after the season if I wanted to continue.”
After struggling to win just four games in each of his first two seasons, Hochberg greatly turned the program around by winning at least 11 games in each of his final five seasons.
“(I’m) happy to leave on my own terms and after a very successful season in which we proved a lot to those on the outside of our family what we already knew on the inside,” Hochberg added. “The process we have taken and culture we have created in this program over the past seven years has left the program in a good position to continue to be extremely competitive. I look forward to seeing that continue from a different perspective now.”
While he is stepping away, Hochberg said he still has a great desire to coach.
“I will definitely coach again. This is more of a hiatus,” he said. “I (will) be hanging out in a gym somewhere in the future and look forward to being able to give the time I want to give to the game and process I love so much.”
