Like Golden State, Alameda boys have turned it around

When Cameron Quick started in ticket sales for the Warriors in 2007, the reaction from family and friends was laughter, then compassion.

“They’d say, ‘That must be a very difficult job,’ ” he said.

Oh, how the times have changed.

Now as a senior account executive, “They say I must have a dream job.”

Quick has received similar reactions over the past four years as the head boys basketball coach at Alameda, a program cast largely in the shadow of six-time state champion St. Joseph Notre Dame, where Jason Kidd once flourished, and Encinal, alma mater of J.R. Rider.

Alameda is a school known for its baseball, aquatics and tennis.

Before this season, the last time its basketball team recorded a league championship of any kind was 1993.

The four years before Quick, 33, arrived in 2014, the Hornets were a combined 42-56. A former assistant at Piedmont, he was Alameda’s fourth coach in four seasons.

“Everyone asked why I took over at Alameda,” he said. “They said it was a dead-end job.”

Quick has brought it back to life. And like the professional organization for which he works by day across Interstate 880, his coaching job looks pretty dreamy.

The top-seeded Hornets (27-5) are one win from reaching the state Division 2 final.

They host second-seed St. Mary’s-Stockton (26-8) at 6 p.m. Saturday with the chance to play in the state-title game next week at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Not bad considering the Hornets had not even won a NorCal playoff game since they began playing basketball in 1926-27, according to historian John Zugnoni.

“We haven’t won anything yet,” Quick said. “We still have to get better to reach our ultimate goal.”

Behind a close-knit and cohesive senior class and six AllWest Alameda County Conference players, the Hornets are considerably better than before the coach arrived — but the turnaround wasn’t easy or immediate.

The team lost 15 straight in his first season and finished 6-22. That was followed by seasons of 11-19 and 19-8.

“We had eight returning seniors and we knew we had a chance to do something special” this season, Quick said. And they have. Benno Zecic, a 6-foot-3 point guard, 6-5 forward Noah Schwartz and 6-foot guard Ryan Cibull, were first-team All-WACC selections. Sam Wettegren, a 6-3 forward, and 6-8 post Kingsley Obiorah, were second-team picks. Sixthman Andre Smith was honorable mention.

All are seniors and each is capable of scoring in double figures. Schwartz is the most versatile. Cibull is a lights-out shooter and ball-handler. Obiorah is the defensive anchor, Zecic runs the show, Smith provides energy off the bench and Wettegren is the team’s “Draymond Green,” Quick said. “He’s our leader. He does a lot of everything.”

“What he’s done over there is incredible,” said Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland coach Lou Richie, whose Open Division finalist Dragons trailed by double digits in a North Coast Section Division 2 semifinal before winning 60-48. “No matter what happens Saturday, they should throw a parade for him.”

Quick, who earned all-conference honors as a player at Cal State Stanislaus, said building a family foundation has been key. His father Fred, a former coach, mom Carol, brother Brandon and sister Lauren are behind the bench every game.

“We feel like a family,” Wettegren said. “We do everything together. We eat together. We hang out. All that stuff matters.”

They are one hot ticket, one Quick doesn’t have to sell.

“Our entire community has come around,” Cibull said. “People are excited. Teachers and the student body recognize us and pat us on the back. I think they like our grit. How we play as a team. How we get along. It’s great.”