PPS Looks to Hire New Head Coach for Lincoln Boys Basketball

Portland Public Schools has posted a job opening for a Lincoln High School boys basketball head coaching position for the 2025–26 school year.

The job posting, placed Friday, comes after a rocky season for the program, whose former head coach, Heather Seely-Roberts, came under scrutiny in December.

In October, she filed a tort claim notice (a notice of intent to sue) with the district, alleging PPS had failed to protect her from disgruntled parents. She also alleged the district had discriminated against her based on her gender. Seely-Roberts is the only woman to coach a 6A boys varsity hoops team in Oregon.

That legal filing only came to light after after four players filed a tort claim notice of their own with PPS. Those players alleged that Seely-Roberts had retaliated against them by cutting them from the team. In the legal filing, they also leveled accusations that Seely-Roberts had engaged in racist and homophobic conduct, which her attorneys vehemently denied.

Most recently, in January, a parent’s complaint about the coach escalated to the Oregon Department of Education. Greg Davenport, the parent whose complaint ODE accepted, was not immediately available for comment.

PPS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The last time WW followed up, on April 15, spokeswoman Sydney Kelly confirmed Seely-Roberts was still an employee of the district, but did not answer a question about whether she was still head coach.

Her attorney said Seely-Roberts declined to comment.

Seely-Roberts first started coaching at Lincoln in fall 2021. She made headlines during the 2022–23 season, when she coached the team to a third-place finish in the state 6A championships. That successful season came in part because Seely-Roberts’ twin boys were among the team’s top players that year.

The job posting asks for applicants to have at least three years of high school coaching experience. It gives no timeline for filling the position.