Porterville’s Coach K Stepping Down
Kavern retiring from coaching after more than 40 years
Dave Kavern said there’s definitely no point of return. His decision to retire from coaching is final.
“This is it,” said Kavern, who has announced his retirement from coaching after a career in which he has been a coach for more than 40 years.
Kavern is stepping down after his last stint in coaching in which he returned to coach the Porterville High girls basketball team for the last eight years. He informed his PHS players he was retiring during lunch on Monday. “It wouldn’t have been fair if I made the decision late summer,” Kavern said.
And the fact Kavern will now have more time during the summers and at Christmas when he has always been involved with basketball at those times in the past is another reason why Kavern is retiring. Since he’s turning 65 in October, Kavern said he wants to have more time for himself and his family. “I’ve been doing this for over 40 years,” he said. “Time for a new voice.”
Kavern has coached at the high school, community college and Division I level in various sports. He served as an assistant boys basketball coach and as a varsity baseball coach at the high school level.
While he was at Southwestern Michigan College he served as the head women’s basketball coach and the head softball coach. He’s currently a professor at Porterville College.
But where Kavern has made his biggest mark is as a women’s basketball coach and girls basketball coach, particularly at Porterville High. Kavern is a 1976 Porterville High graduate where he played for his father, legendary PHS boys basketball coach Ron Kavern, and won a Polly Wilhelmsen title under his father during his senior year.
He went onto to become the No. 2 assistant coach in women's basketball at Western Michigan University from 1987-1990. He then went to Southwestern Michigan College before returning to Western Michigan where he served as the No. 1 assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in women's basketball in 1995.
Then in 1995 is when Kavern began his illustrious career in Porterville, first at PHS, then at PC, and then at PHS again.
He came to PHS to replace longtime Panther wrestling coach Tim Vanni, an Olympian, who was training for a shot to compete in the 1996 Olympics. Kavern then replaced another legendary figure, Tiny Hill, as the PHS girls basketball coach in 1996 and served five years in the position.
His successful first run at PHS from 19962001 includes two straight trips to the Division I Valley finals in 1999 and 2000 with alltime great PHS players such as Ashley Bastian and Kjell Stoddard. PHS went 25-4 in 1999 and 28-4 in 2000.
But back then there was no trip for the Panthers to the state playoffs as they were beaten each time in the finals to a powerful Hanford team. But the Panthers almost pulled off the upset against Hanford in 1999, leading in the fourth quarter before falling.
After 2001, Kavern left PHS to become the PC women's basketball coach where he served in that position from 2001-2014. He then took a year off before returning to PHS in 2015 and had another successful run.
Under Kavern's guidance, PHS won two Valley titles in three years, which included a Valley title in 2022. His 20212022 team finished 29-5 against a difficult schedule and advanced all the way to the Southern California State Division III finals, so the Panthers ended up as one of the top four teams in the state. For that accomplishment Kavern was named as the State Division III Coach of the Year by Calhi Sports.
But Kavern's most rewarding season may have actually been this past season. Despite losing eight seniors, Kavern was still able to lead PHS back to the Division III Valley finals at Selland Arena where it lost to Bakersfield Christian.
PHS also won its first round state playoff game, beating Notre Dame Academy 43-28 and in the second round was down by four points with two minutes left before falling to Campbell Hall 55-46. PHS finished the season at 19-14.
“I think this was one of my best coaching jobs with this team,” Kavern said. “I don't think anyone thought we would make it to the Valley finals and to the second round of the state playoffs. I'm very proud of this year's team.”
Kavern said it was also obviously reward to beat Monache in his final game against the Panthers' rival as PHS upset the Marauders 47-43 and to also take his team to Selland Arena one last time.
Kavern said he was proud to accomplish what he was able to accomplish at PHS without recruiting. “Whoever showed up, that's who I took,” he said. But he did add, “I've been very fortunate to have some very talented players.”
Kavern said a key to his success has been surrounding himself with quality people. He said he was fortunate to work for three supportive athletic directs at PHS in Pat Mccusker, Richard Rankin and Brian Hill and also for supportive prin- cipals at PHS, Joe Feldeisen and Jose Valdez.
He also pointed out the numerous coaches who have helped him, including Gary Stoddard, Jesus Rivera, Mike Hill, Brian Hill, Randy Rippee, Aly Mannis, and the legendary Monache boys basketball coach Carroll Land, who was inducted into the Monache Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday. And of course he credited his long-time colleague Mike Valdez. “You get quality people that rubs off on the kids,” Kavern said.
He also said he rarely had any problems with parents. “The parents have been very good to me,” he said. “We got great support from the community.”
He described the community's fans as some of the best in the Valley who always traveled well to road games. “It's always fun to play in front of a lot of people,” Kavern said.