TAMPA — He's back.
After stepping away back in July and vacating his post as girls basketball coach at Academy at the Lakes, Karim Nohra has been lured out of retirement to coach at Carrollwood Day School, according to athletic director Baker Mabry.
"It's a huge shot in the arm for us," Mabry said. "It's been something as long as I've been here at Carrollwood Day, and I've known his family. Once he wasn't at Academy at the Lakes, it was pretty immediate that we wanted to pursue (Nohra)."
One of the major reasons Nohra accepted the position at Carrollwood Day was the presence of his wife and two children, Andrew and Jenna, on campus. Nohra's wife currently teaches at Carrollwood and his son attends the school and plans to play basketball for the Patriots.
"It was a family decision," Nohra said. "My kids go here. My wife teaches here. I'm sure my son will play basketball right before my games. My son can participate in some of the drills and practices. Logistically, it made sense. I didn't make a decision until we as a family sat down and agreed to everything. If I wanted to coach this would be a great place to coach."
In six seasons at AATL, his team made five trips to the state final four in Lakeland and the former Tampa Catholic/Cambridge Christian/Wesley Chapel coach went 143-26 as the Wildcats' head guy. As one of the area's top girls basketball coaches, Nohra's overall record is at 534-164 and he isn't looking to take any steps backward in his quest to nab a state championship.
"My goals are always the same," Nohra said. "We want to win the district. We want to be one of the top teams in the tri-county area and we want to make it to Lakeland. That's always the goal."
Carrollwood Day, which finished 5-14 last season, will open up new gymnasium this fall, and the Patriots start the regular season against Academy at the Lakes on Nov. 15. Carrollwood and AATL both compete in Class 3A, District 4.
Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @avillamarzo.