Donovan Blythe
Founder & Director
Considered to be one of the best talent scouts, shooting instructors, player development coaches and trainers in the business, Donovan Blythe has brought his basketball expertise to helping kids and pros become superstars in their own right for more than thirty years.
Donovan came to the United States from Jamaica, moving to Chicago as a 14-year-old. Although never having touched a basketball before, he quickly fell in love with the game. Through hours of study and physical training, he single-handedly turned himself into a college prospect in only two years. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside where he earned a basketball scholarship and studied Business Management.
After college, Donovan moved to the Bay Area and ran a group home for boys as a full-time live-in counselor. Coach Blythe also ran numerous camps and leagues throughout the Bay. His NIKE Spring Basketball League attracted the top high school players in Northern California, including future NBA Hall-of-Famer Jason Kidd.
In 1991 Donovan was hired as a trainer, consultant and assistant coach at Emery High School (Emeryville, CA) to develop a raw 6-9 freshman named Darnell Robinson. Three years later, Robinson was a McDonald's All-American and left high school as the all-time leading scorer in California prep history. Donovan coached Emery to it's only state title (1994) and later that summer he took a team of California all-stars that included Baron Davis (Warriors/Clippers), Paul Pierce (Celtics/Clippers) Tayshaun Prince (Pistons), the Collins twins (Stanford/NBA), and Robinson to the Boston Shootout, which they won.
After coaching at San Mateo High School and at the JC level, Donovan stepped away from team coaching in order to train his daughter, Britney, who earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Colorado. With Britney away in college, Donovan came out of retirement to coach the girl’s varsity team at Eastside College Prep (East Palo Alto, CA), where he is currently head coach. In his first season, Donovan was named the Northern California Coach of the Year (NorCal Preps) after leading the Eastside Panthers to a 32-2 record and the Northern California D-V finals. Since 2015, the Panthers have won three NorCal Championships and back-to-back D-V California State Championships (2016 & 2017) under Donovan's leadership.
Emphasizing the importance of fundamentals, technique, and player development, Donovan has designed and directed basketball camps for Yi Jianlian and the Nike RISE clinics for Kobe Bryant in China. His organization Blythe's Basketball offers personal and group training for players of all levels, corporate team building activities, strength and conditioning services, and health and wellness consultations. In addition to his basketball exploits, Donovan is a mentor and life coach for many of his current and former students. It's bigger than basketball.
