Meet Daniel Eberhardt

Daniel Eberhardt figured out his dream vocation early on -- that being immersion in basketball, specifically as a coach. To begin turning his aspiration into reality, he established his own basketball camp -- Holy Hoops Basketball -- at age 18 and operated it for eight years.

Simultaneously, he finished playing at Woodcreek High an a First Team Sierra Foothill League honoree. After a year at Sierra College, he moved down south to play two years at Grossmont College and finished tops on the team in points, assists, and steals during the 2009-10 season.

A transfer to NAIA-affiliated Cal Maritime led him to playing 58 games for the Coach Bryan Rooney as well as captaining the Keelhaulers as a senior. A Cal Pac Conference championship was earned that season as well as an invite to the NAIA national tournament.

"I’ve been lucky enough to player for some great coaches such as Burnel Pinkerton and Doug Weber but I grew up a lot during my time at Cal Maritime and developed as a man, Eberhardt explained. "Coach Rooney was huge for me and he has a lot of qualities I wanted to emulate. He's extremely humble and the best at getting buy-in [from players]. I thought if I could have the impact like he has had on influencing college kids, then that would be a worth while career." He earned a B.S. in International Business and Logistics, a degree that would have resulted in high double figures as a starting salary had he decided to travel that route.

With an opportunity available, Eberhardt jumped into the coaching profession, working two years as Rooney's assistant. The success of the Keelhaulers continued as Cal Maritime earned successive NAIA tournament invitations.

Then Cal State East Bay Coach Gus Argenal, heading a DII program in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, invited Eberhardt to come aboard. The Pioneers are a long moribund program lacking a tradition of basketball success.
Two years in as an assistant coach, Eberhardt sees progress on the court coming as well the opportunity to learn from another well-respected head coach.

"Coach Argenal gives our players an outstanding basketball experience. The guys like him because he maintains an open line of communication -- he'll talk with them about academics, family life, girlfriend problems, you name it.  He constantly has a sweat going during practice and sets the tone everyday with his energy. There is not one line drill or 17 during the year that he doesn’t run with the team."

Eberhardt also enjoys that Argenal is open to new options. "Our staples aren't going to change but you can bring new plays and ideas to him and he'll test them out."

Another positive aspect for Eberhardt is the coaching staff availability to the players. "Our philosophy is we will drop what we're doing at the moment if a player comes in and needs a rebounder or wants to get extra skill work in. We stress a culture of always looking to improve so if a player wants to get better, we will help him do that.”

Argenal is also aces in coaching connections. He played at De La Salle and then Chico State followed by coaching stints at Arizona State, UC Davis, Texas San Antonio, Chico State and Rice. "Coach Argenal is always looking to improve his craft and does a great job of using his network to do so, he always includes his staff whenever he travels on the road" said Eberhardt. Argenal makes it a point of his coaching staff visiting other programs, especially at the D1 level, as an element of  continuous learning.

So how does Eberhardt and his fellow Pioneer coaches conduct their recruiting efforts? "We formulate a list of the players we want to follow and track them throughout the year. The more you work it, the more it will work for you and that involves calls to players and attending practices and games. We actively stay in touch with the players but also determine who is important to him, who is in his inner circle, because those people are important."

Eberhardt isn't sure where his future lies. “The end goal is to be a head coach someday. I got great advice from Coach Brandon Laird about searching for jobs and what he told me is something that I still take into account when I think about where I want to work. I want to be surrounded be good people, have some ownership in the process and be in a place where I can learn and grow.  Right now I definitely feel that I have all three of those things.”