Inside Derek Swafford

Derek Swafford is one of the most fascinating coaches in the high school ranks with an inspiring backstory, some of it told here.

Sac High boys play, win by coaches' rules on and off court
Bill Paterson
Sacramento Bee
March 19, 2010

They didn't realize they were creating a basketball monster.

Sacramento High School head coach Derek Swafford and his key assistant Earl Allen took over the boys program in the 2000-01 season. It was wracked by turmoil, "with no schedule, no uniforms, no money and no discipline," Swafford said. It won nine of 26 games. Four players were booted off the team for behavior problems.

Since then, Swafford and Allen have engineered Sac High's metamorphosis into a perennial power. Now excellence is not just expected but demanded by their ever-growing fan base...

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