There has been another change of leadership in women’s sports at Roosevelt this year, first, the head soccer coach, and this time, on the court. The Lady Riders Basketball team has a new head coach, assistant varsity coach, and JV coach for the 2025-26 season.
The new Head Coach is Terrence Readus; he is in his 13th season coaching basketball. He started his coaching journey on the football field but soon fell in love with coaching basketball once he took on a freshman girls team at a school in Arizona. He describes it as a very positive experience and from that moment, he knew what he wanted to do. He has since quit football coaching and was the head girls basketball coach at North Medford high school. He made the move to Portland after the Covid-19 pandemic. He worked as the JV head basketball coach and Varsity assistant coach for Clackamas High School, working alongside basketball stars like Jazzy Davidson during their state championship win in 2023.
Coach Readus is in his first year of teaching and joined the social studies department at Roosevelt this year. He completed his student teaching at McDaniel High School last year. He teaches Ethnic Studies for juniors and non-native speakers, and you can find him in room 015 or 017.
Coach Readus’s athletic experience is extensive. In high school he played basketball, baseball, and football. In college, he played both football and basketball in California, New Mexico, and Kansas. The most important thing he’s learned from sports is the skills, like work ethic, which he has learned to apply to all areas of his life.
In a few years Coach Readus wants Roosevelt women’s basketball to be known as a group “full of a bunch of powerful, impactful and awesome people.” An environment that is an “ inviting [place]” but where it’s known “we’re going to work hard.” He foresees a future where the Lady Riders carry an air of competitiveness to every game, and where other teams “[are] not gonna wanna to play [us].”
For a quick look into the personality of Coach Readus; Two things he is never without is a decent pair of shoes and something good to say to someone. When he’s watching basketball he’s self described as a “Die hard New York Knicks fan” and his favorite player is Kevin Durant. Pre-game you’ll catch him listening to artists like Alchemist, Mad Libb, and Sturgill Simpson.
