For the past six years, Chris Lyle was a fixture on the Issaquah Eagles boys varsity basketball team’s bench as an assistant coach.

Just one day before Memorial Day, Lyle received a call confirming that he was hired as the new head coach of the Eagles basketball program. Lyle replaces Jason Griffith, who accepted the Mount Si High School boys basketball head coaching position earlier this spring. Lyle, who graduated from Mount Si High School in 2003, fulfilled a life-long dream in landing a head coaching job.

“It always has been a goal of mine to be a head coach,” said Lyle, who played college basketball for the Division-III University of Redlands from 2003 through 2007 as well. “This was the right fit for me. I love the Issaquah community. I’m happy this worked out because of the chemistry factor. I know the kids in the program past and present and know what I’m walking into.”

Lyle has liked what he saw from his team during summer practice sessions in June. He said the 2016-17 team will look very different from last season’s squad, which captured sixth place at the Class 4A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome. Jason Crandall, Scott Kellum and Jack Dellinger graduated this past June. Key players Trevon Ary-Turner and Dominic Postle transferred to different high schools in the off-season as well.

“We are going to only have four returners who were on varsity last year,” Lyle said.

One starter returning to the lineup this season will be the 6-foot, 5-inch Tanner Davis. Davis, who played the majority of his minutes in the low post during the 2015-16 season, will see his role expand significantly this year on the hardwood. Davis came up huge in clutch moments last season for the Eagles.

“This is kind of his breakout year to get exposure and get a scholarship somewhere. He is in a big spot to get colleges looking at him. He is really excited,” Lyle said of Davis. “We are going to play him more on the wing this year. He has been a post for the last few years but having Tanner on the wing just gives us so many more dimensions as a team. It creates a lot of mismatches. We can move him in and out of the post as well.”

Lyle said having a youthful roster on the hardwood this winter isn’t necessarily a negative for his squad.

“It is kind of new water for most of our team,” he said. “There is a lot of upside and we are learning together and going through the process this summer. Our inexperience is a weakness at times, but our confidence is a strength. To have a successful high school basketball team, the best teams are going to win, it is not necessarily about having the best players.We have had examples of that in the past.”

Lyle said the Eagles will face Griffith-led Mount Si Wildcats in one of their first contests of the 2016-17 season.

“It will definitely be different,” Lyle said of coaching against his former boss on the sidelines. “We have two non-league games before that but that is going to be our first league (KingCo) game of the season at Mount Si. We want to look at it like another game but obviously it won’t be for both teams. Obviously it is good we are getting that game out of the way and then we will play them again later in the season.”