Longtime basketball coach Tony Watson is headed back to high school after taking over the Forest Hill boys varsity program.
Forest Hill has named Tony Watson (left), shown in a 2006 photo with his son, Tony Watson II, as its new boys basketball coach. (Post file photo)
Watson, who is an assistant men’s coach at Palm Beach Atlantic and also coached at Palm Beach Gardens High, will replace Nate Vera with the Falcons.
Vera stepped down last month after three seasons at Forest Hill. He has joined the Cardinal Newman boys varsity basketball staff as an assistant coach.
Watson has spent the past three seasons at Palm Beach Atlantic, and previously coached for six seasons at Palm Beach Gardens.
Forest Hill will be his second head coaching position at the boys varsity level in Palm Beach County. He plans to coach and teach full-time at the West Palm Beach School.
“I’ve always enjoyed being in a position to develop kids and get them to the college level,” he said. “I also enjoyed my experiences at the college level as an assistant. A lot of the kids come in with a lot of challenges, and I can help point them in the right direction.”
Watson is eager to get started at Forest Hill, which has faced its own challenges competing in tough District 13-7A alongside Dwyer, Royal Palm Beach, Palm Beach Lakes and other top teams.
Vera brought enthusiasm back to the Falcons’ program, and Watson hopes to build on that.
“We’ve got some very good kids who are returning, and we just want to get to a position where we are playing together, having some fun and winning some games,” he said. “We just want to get the basketball program back on the level of respectability.”
