Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

West High didn’t wait very long or need to go very far to find its new boys basketball coach.

Less than a month after the resignation of long-time coach Steve Bergman West High announced it has hired former West Branch head coach Jason Kern pending approval of the school board.

Kern has spent the past years as the head coach at West Branch where he compiled a 105-54 record while leading the Bears the three River Valley Conference South Division titles.

A three-time RVC coach of the year, Kern was named the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association substate coach of the year in 2020.

Prior to his tenure at West Branch Kern was the head coach at St. Mary’s Catholic in Louisiana where he posted a 56-32 record and led his team to two conference titles and a state runner-up finish 2018.

“We are excited to have Jason lead our program,” West High athletic director BJ Mayer said in a release. “He has ten years of coaching experience and came highly recommended by those who have worked with him. He has a vision to continue the traditions at West while adding his own tough to elevate our men’s basketball program. We believe Jason is the right person to help grow our athletes both on and off the court.”
Kern replaces Bergman who resigned earlier this month after 35 seasons at West High.

Bergman racked up 623 in his 35 seasons at West High and led the Trojans to the state tournament 19 times winning six Class 4A state titles, most recently in 2017.

“I am truly humbled and excited for the opportunity to take over as the head coach at such a storied program like West High,” Kern said in a release. “I want to congratulate coach Bergman on a hall of fame career and I hop to build on the strong foundation he has set to make this one of the top tier programs in the state. It is important to me to uphold the history of his program and for myself and my team to represent West High in a first-class manner. I’m looking forward to getting there to start building relationships with my players and staff.”

West High was 15-8 last season.

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