John Block

Special to the Times

Porum Public Schools hired Jordan Garner as the 2024-2025 Head Boys Basketball Coach during the June 24 school board meeting. Garner will coach elementary, junior high and high school basketball along with girls and boys track.

Garner was the head girls basketball coach at Preston last season. He started his coaching career at Braggs in 2005 as boys head coach and has also coached at Gore, Eufaula, Vian and Webbers Falls. During his 19 year coaching career he has won conference coach of the year eight times and taken two teams to the state tournament (Vian girls 2015 and assistant Webbers Falls Girls 2021.)

Since Garner was hired in late June, he has not met with his new team yet but he has watched film from last year and he is excited about the group coming back. He attended Porum Schools from kindergarten through sixth grade and his sister Regan Garner was Porum’s first all-state basketball player in 1994.

“It feels really good to be back. I have so many fond memories of Porum. Walking through the halls was like taking a trip down memory lane. My family and I are excited about the opportunity to be Panthers. Porum is a great community that is passionate about their sports. My son (Glavin) played basketball and baseball with Porum for several years when he was younger. We are already familiar with several of the families,” Garner said.

The community should expect Garner’s offense to get out in transition and run but he isn’t afraid to slow the tempo down and run sets to find a good shot attempt. Defensively he likes to mix it up by running multiple half court defenses and zone presses as well as running man defense. He credits his high school coaches Dick Goss and Jerry Ward for shaping how he coaches. Garner coached with Coach Ward at Webbers Falls and stated Ward’s attention to detail and fundamentals are second to none.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern State University in 2004 and his masters degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 2018.

Spending time with his family is Garner’s number one hobby. A lot of the time he is chasing his children around playing sports or fishing.

He has been married to Amanda Garner for 23 years this summer. They have two children Anistyn (18) and Glavin (14.) Anistyn graduated from Preston High School this spring and Glavin will be an eighth grader at Porum when school starts in August. The Garner family are proud members of First Baptist Church of Webbers Falls.