The Auburn Riverside girls basketball program will head into next season with Derek Pegram as its new coach.

According to Auburn Riverside Athletic Director Doug Aubert, Pegram – a 2004 graduate of Auburn Riverside – will replace Tim Nelson, who stepped down after last season.

“It is great to have a true Raven like Derek Pegram come back to work with our kids,” Aubert wrote in a press release. “We are very excited to have him back on our coaching staff.”

Pegram played two years of basketball for the Ravens before moving on to play at Seattle Central Community College.

After college, Pegram returned to Auburn Riverside where he was a varsity assistant and junior varsity coach for the Ravens. Pegram also coached as an assistant on the women’s team at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho and spent two years as an assistant on the Lewiston High (Idaho) boys basketball program.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be back at Auburn Riverside working with such a well-established program as Auburn Riverside girls basketball,” Pegram said. “I look forward to meeting the girls and to their continued success.”

The Ravens have won three state titles in the past seven years and finished tied for second in the South Puget Sound League North 4A this past season.