Kyle Clayton

Haines’ basketball star Kyle Fossman is returning to the court-this time as an assistant coach to University of Alaska at Anchorage’s men’s team.

Fossman, 28, played college basketball at UAA from 2010 to 2014 where he ranked as a top performer in program history, scoring 1,237 points in four years. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, he joined with Fraport Skyliners for a year of professional basketball in Germany.

On Nov. 1, Fossman will start the UAA season on the sidelines beside former head coach Rusty Osborne and first assistant coach Ryan Orton.

“He’s been through it,” Osborne said. “Kyle lived it and he lived it with both of us (coaches), so he knows exactly what we emphasize and what we expect. Kyle was easy to coach. He understood basketball.”

That understanding was born at a young age.

“That was the culture in our household,” Steve Fossman said of his son. “Kyle was always the kind of kid that wanted to be playing catch or shooting ball.” Steve Fossman instructs high school basketball, and began coaching his son in middle school. He said that part of his son’s triumph comes from the skills that didn’t come naturally.

“He wasn’t as fast, he couldn’t jump as high, but paying attention to the strategy and details of the game and continuing to work on fundamentals, he had a fantastic college career,” Steve Fossman said. “For a guy that comes from a place very small, the odds are against you. I think that was the neatest thing to see.”

Fossman won 3A Player of the Year in 2008, State of Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year in 2010, and was inducted into the Alaska School Activities Association’s Hall of Fame in 2018.

Since 2015, Fossman has worked as a Haines Volunteer firefighter, school substitute, and at Haines Packing. He founded a company called AKtive, where he ran sports and recreation education camps.

Glacier Bear senior Kirby Faverty, now a varsity player, was coached by Fossman in eighth grade. “He lives for the game,” Faverty said. “If it wasn’t for Coach Kyle, maybe I wouldn’t be that good of a shooter.”

Fossman said he’s looking forward to coaching at a higher level of basketball.

“I’ve been out of it for a little bit, and I kind of like the competitiveness that comes with college sports,” he said. “The fact that I played there and I played for the same two coaches I’m going to be coaching under gives me some comfort.”

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