 | | | Steven Dyer Photo provided | | | | | | Steven Dyer, beginning his seventh year as Campolindo's head basketball coach, had a composite won-lost record of 137 and 37. On Jan. 18, with a 77-39 win over College Park, Dyer reached a milestone, as this was his 150th victory against only 42 defeats, a winning percentage of 78.1%.
Going back to the two years Dyer played for the Campolindo varsity basketball team to his five years as an assistant coach at Miramonte to six-plus seasons as the Cougars head coach, each of these teams made the post-season playoffs. When this was brought to his attention, his reaction was simple: "I guess it's true now that you say it," Dyer said.
The Campolindo teams that Dyer played for in 2005-06 and 2006-07, had a combined 48-11 record, going 5-2 in the post-season. "I played with a lot of good players, and we had a really good coach in Chris Whirlow," Dyer said.
Besides Whirlow, Dyer credits Drew McDonald who was the head coach at Miramonte when he was an assistant coach there and Saint Mary's Randy Bennett. "I learned a lot under Drew, and he had a big influence on me and I'm fortunate to have him on my staff now," Dyer said. "I've talked with Randy a lot and he has been very helpful to me in my career along with other people as well."
Dyer took over a team that had a 14-14 record the prior year and coached them to a 20-11 record. "That was a great senior class that was committed to having a better season than the year before," Dyer said. "We had a lot of tough kids and good leaders in our senior class like Chris Wright, Tom Caprio, Lev Garcia and Mike Navruzyan that really wanted to win. It was a really positive experience for me with that group."
Also on that team were four players, sophomores David Ahazie, Jake Chan, Peter Schmitz, and freshman Carter Mahaney who would go on to play on Campolindo's state championship team two years later.
Trevin Kroichick, a junior on Dyer's first team at Campolindo, saw an immediate change in the team from Dyer's first practice. "Coach Dyer brought a sense of structure and instilled discipline, which was the biggest thing for all of us, making sure we showed up to practice on time, running drills full speed, making sure we were sound defensively," Kroichick said. "Thankfully everyone bought into it. He's a brilliant X's and O's coach and was very strategic game to game in laying out our game plans."
Dyer has always described himself as a defensive coach and his Campolindo teams have averaged giving up only 52 points a game. Over the last 192 games, Campolindo has held their opponents under 60 points 142 times (74%), twice holding teams to 18 and 17 points and have only allowed their opponents to score more than 70 points 15 times (7.8%).
Dyer vividly recalls the game where his team gave up the most points - 98 in his second year. "I definitely remember that game," Dyers said. "It was a breakthrough win for us against Clayton Valley. The game went into a double overtime, and we won 100-98 with Garrett Pascoe scoring 45 points for them."
Kroichick saw how Dyer left little to chance. "Coach Dyer was incredible with scouting our upcoming opponents, either sending an assistant coach or going to a game himself," Kroichick said. "We would watch film and our strategies, especially defensively, would change with every opponent, which was something we didn't do prior to his arrival which really allowed us to be successful."
Even more impressive about Dyer's Campolindo teams has been their success in the post season with an overall record of 22-7 and in the state tournaments with a 13-3 (81.3%) record. It's a combination of talent and toughness, according to Dyer. "You have to have good players making big plays in playoff moments, which we've had," Dyer said. "I've always believed in playing a hard schedule in the regular season so that we're ready for a lot of different situations in the playoffs. There are a couple of years where we had to win a bunch of games on the road in the playoffs. You have to also be fortunate and get some luck because every team in the playoffs is going to be pretty even."
With all that, it also comes down to simple effort and desire for Dyer: "It's just about guys playing as hard as they can, guys buying into playing team basketball, guys buying in on the defensive end. All of our teams have at least tried to do that to the best of their ability and when you have good players, it makes it a lot easier." |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA