Leading in assists

Boys hoops: Assistant coaches play important role in Foothill League

Inside the Valencia High School gym on Wednesday, boys basketball head coach Bill Bedgood moves from hoop to hoop, clipboard in hand and whistle around neck, scrutinizing his players and giving instruction.

At center court, with two players, stands assistant coach Jeremy Paggao, who is observing the full scene.

“For me, it’s all about the details,” Paggao said. “I think I’m really good at recognizing details and understanding personnel, so it’s just using what I do best and applying it to whatever I can here.”

While Paggao and Bedgood have different roles on the coaching staff and different job titles, the pair work together with fellow assistant coach Alan Woskanian to create the best team they possibly can. And although the term “assistant” implies that Paggao and Woskanian are secondary, they are important cogs in the coaching system.

Just as a team’s players have chemistry, the coaching staff has chemistry as well. When assistant coaches are on the same page as the head coach, the chemistry flows. If not, things start to break down.

“If our coaching staff isn’t close, then there’s no way that guys, players, will follow us,” Paggao said. “Or they see a riff between us coaches, then why would they want to listen or follow our lead if we can’t even get it together?”

Saugus coach Alfredo Manzano has had experience with both good and bad assistants and said they can make or break a team.

“It’s like first and foremost, yes, you want them to have some basketball knowledge, but it’s also a trust thing,” he said. “You want to trust that when you’re not around, they’re relaying the same message and you want to also have them have some good insight because they are a second set of eyes.”

Manzano and Bedgood both want the entire coaching staff to be on the same page, but Bedgood mentioned that he finds different perspectives refreshing.

“You always want to support one another, but it’s okay sometimes to disagree with each other,” he said. “I like guys that don’t see everything the way I see it so it’s another perspective and kind

cracks or take care of duties that head coaches just don’t have a spare minute for.

At Saugus, Darren Seow assists head coach Alfredo Manzano in game preparation and scouting.

“He sleeps, breathes basketball,” Seow said of Manzano. “But us too, we’re always thinking of all the matches and how we can go about our stuff better and how we can defend our opponents better. Each game is different.”

Manzano has been in that position, too. He took over the head coach position after working as an assistant for Bedgood. Manzano said that the experience he had as an assistant was invaluable when he made the move to head coach.

“The players already know the style, what I’m trying to do, and also the parents saw the commitment levels,” Manzano said. “So the whole transition was very, very easy.”

Manzano and Bedgood’s transitions are just about complete as both are in their second year as head coaches at their respective schools. And regardless of where Foothill League play, which begins tonight, takes them, they know they’ll have plenty of support to back them up.

“It takes usually a couple years when you come into a new system or new school, to kind of get your own coaches in here that are a little more like-minded, you have a better chemistry and a better feel with,” Bedgood said. “After the year, just one of the best I’ve ever had in my career.”