Ex-Storm coach off to great start at California school
Brian Smith is a SoCal guy now, and give the guy credit. The new climate seems to agree with him.
The former Cleveland head coach, who resigned after last season to take over at Portola, the newest high school in Irvine, Calif., saw his first season go exceedingly well.
His team went 22-1 — although it was just a freshman team.
“It is literally 400 freshmen and 25 staff members right now,” Smith said in a phone interview earlier this week. “We are the example for these freshmen. There are no upperclassmen to tell these guys what is right and wrong.”
Portola, which is opening the same way Volcano Vista and Atrisco Heritage did here, only with ninth graders, will not play a varsity schedule until Year 3. Next season, Smith will have a junior varsity squad, too.
“I was trying to push for us to play a varsity schedule next season, but the problem is, they want all the sports going in at the same time,” Smith said.
Smith started the Cleveland program from scratch, but not like this, beginning with only ninth-graders.
And it’s also been some culture shock. From a largely Hispanic state like New Mexico, he has relocated to Irvine, where it is predominantly an Asian community. About 60-70 percent of the families that live in the area are Asian.
There are perks for Smith. He had a previous relationship with former New Mexico men’s coach Steve Alford, who has hooked Smith up with UCLA tickets this season. Of course, there’s also the weather. “You can’t beat it,” Smith said. “In January, I’m wearing shorts.”
OH REALLY? Smith’s replacement at Cleveland, Sean Jimenez, said an interesting thing to me recently after the Storm beat Cibola.
We were talking about the depth of the offensive firepower on this Cleveland roster. Jimenez said he had six legitimate scoring weapons.
“I’ll tell you, I’ve been coaching for 10 years at the high school level, and I haven’t seen a team that has this many offensive weapons,” Jimenez said.
And then he said this team was even more accomplished offensively than the highpowered 2007 state champion Rio Rancho Rams, a team for which Smith was the head coach and Jimenez was an assistant coach.
I raised my eyebrows at Jimenez. I covered that 2007 Rio Rancho team extensively, and I’m not sure I agree with him.
But that’s neither here nor there. I did relay his comments to Marcus Williams, who was a starting guard for that Ram team and currently is the clock operator for Cleveland home games.
Marcus, not surprisingly, let out a you’vegot-to-be-kidding-me laugh as he defended his team.
“They’d have, like, two weapons if we played them,” Williams said.
KEEP IT FRESH: Rio Rancho coach Wally Salata recently could sense that there was a certain staleness to Ram practices, so he decided to spice things up.
He created a 1-on-1 tournament for his players, even seeding players 1 through 9, with a play-in game, so to speak. Sophomore David Patterson ended up winning the competition, which earned him a slot in the starting lineup last week against Cibola.
“We’re trying to do things differently,” Salata said. “So it breaks the monotony of what you’ve been doing for four months.”
Patterson beat his older brother Clay in the semifinals, then forward Keshawn Banks in the final. It was first to three baskets.
GIVING BACK: Sandia’s girls basketball team recently raised money for the school’s ailing baseball coach, John Gunther.
Sandia held a “Gunther Strong” night in honor of Gunther, who has Stage IV colon cancer. The Matadors, with some help from visiting Clovis on Valentine’s Day, raised over $2,700. Gunther recently retired as a teacher and has handed over many coaching duties this season to his son Robert.
TOO BAD: Water damage to West Mesa’s gym will not only force the Mustangs to play on the road for the District 4-6A girls championship game Saturday night, but it’s going to force West Mesa to play at a neutral site for a firstround playoff game next week.
The Mustangs just completed probably the best regular season in program history, having finished 23-1.
The 4-6A final will be at Rio Grande on Saturday night. There is no definitive word on where the Mustangs will host their first playoff game next Friday, but it looks like Rio Grande or Albuquerque High will be the location.
The West Mesa boys had to play at Albuquerque High on Tuesday night because of the water damage.
THIS AND THAT: For the first time that I can recall, a No. 1 seed for a district tournament does not have a bye into the final. Having expanded to seven schools, the Hobbs girls and the Oñate boys both are having to compete in semifinal games in the District 3-6A tournament. … Sandia Prep’s Madie Trainor last week set the single-season scoring record (605) at her school and is only 47 points from breaking the career scoring record of 1,712 points. She stands at 1,666 points, with at least two more guaranteed games this season.