A Mark DeLuca interview

The following is a Q-and-A with Valley Christian Coach Mark DeLuca who was at Berkeley High last season when the Yellowjackets finished 24-9 and reached the state championship game.

* What is your basketball background? Did you play in high school/college?

MD: "I grew up in the 70's in Indiana. Everyone was obsessed with Bobby Knight, Indiana basketball, Isiah Thomas and Larry Bird. I would cry if Indiana lost in the early 70's which fortunately didn't happen much. I played all three sports in high school and knew at 16 years old I wanted to be a high school basketball coach."


* Why the entering into the coaching field for you?

MD: "I admired Bobby Knight so much growing up and then my high school coach Don Lippi sealed the deal because he was an incredible influence on my life. Besides coaching is a natural extension for people like me whose very essence revolved around sports."


* Who has been influential in your basketball coaching background?


MD: "I really honed my craft and truly became a better coach by trying to beat Allocco at DeLaSalle and Phelps at O'Dowd. Both of those men are mentors of mine who helped me tremendously and both of them are dear friends. There were times when I watched as much tape on their teams as I did mine."


* Is there anything specific you do each year (maybe more the off-season) to add to your coaching repertoire?

MD: "Two things, I obsess about my teams everyday therefore I''m constantly trying to get an edge. Adjusting and re-adjusting skill development and offensive and defensive schemes. Two, I talk hoop everyday with Bill Mellis and Aaron O'Brien who are more like brothers than friends. You have to evolve in this game to stay current and successful."


* Do you work up your non-conference schedule with any sort of purpose in mind?


MD: "Absolutely. I intentionally find the toughest opponents I can for scrimmages , for example this year Valley is scrimmaging Moreau Catholic and Salesian. I also schedule automatic loses and automatic wins. Teams need to experience ups and downs to find themselves during a long season. As an older coach, I make sure my teams are fresh at the end of the season which one of the reasons my Berkeley teams had really good Nor Cal records the last two years and went on the state run last year."


* What are the offensive and defensive trademarks of a Mark DeLuca coached team? 


MD: "Defensively my teams are known for playing hard on defense and taking charges. Wherever I coach, I believe in teaching my players that charges are the ultimate team play. Offensively, I want to score in transition but I have a true motion and a pattern motion plus I use a zillion pro style quick hitters."


* Maybe piggybacking a bit on the above -- just from tweets and other items I've come across recently, I sense a greater bond within this year's team than in the past, a true sense of all-for-one, one-for-all unity. If that premise is correct, how did this come about? 


MD: "You are correct the players and coaches at Valley are excited about having a real basketball program. I'm very pleased with how hard the players and coaches have worked thus far. There is a definite buy in."


* It appears you will have size, speed and experience on your team this season. Can you talk about some of the guys on your team and what they will be bringing to the court?


MD: "We have some scoring in Alex Sokal and Bobby Santos, both are tremendous shooters who I'm getting to now attack the rim. Plus our new big Jay Allen-Tovar is as athletic as any 6'-foot-8 player in California. He is just a sophomore so he needs to learn to play hard . He will get there."


* Not to create any locker room bulletin board material but there's a sense that VC is going to be competitive in what just might be a wide open league this season. How do you see this season's VC squad competing with the others in the WCAL?

MD: "I've never been a coach to worry about projections or getting to a certain amount of wins so I'm not going to start that in the WCAL. My belief is that I just want my team to be a team no one wants to play in the section playoffs. The WCAL is such a tough league where teams just beat each other up defensively night in and night out and that fits my style of coaching. Valley Christian is no longer an automatic win that's for sure. I just hope we put it together for our seniors this season. They deserve to see and feel what's it's like to play in a real basketball program."