CoachesAid.com - High School Sports

Springfield, Mass. --- Everything about the win was fitting. For Gary McKnight to set the all-time California record for wins by a basketball coach, why wouldn’t he do it on the campus of the birthplace of basketball just blocks away from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame?

Monday afternoon, thousands of miles away from the Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., in front of a packed Blake Arena, McKnight’s Monarch's defeated national power DeMatha Catholic (MD), 79-71 as McKnight re-wrote the California state record books.

“Anytime you come back here to Springfield, the birthplace of basketball, it’s special,” McKnight said. “We’ve won two out of three times here, and it’s always special to come here, be able to practice here, look up and see all of the legends of the game looking down at you.”

McKnight, in his 29th season, helped improve his team’s record to 16-1, but the record that mattered for the afternoon at least was McKnight’s. Instead, it was win number 844, passing former St. Joseph of Alameda and Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland head man Mike Phelps for sole possession of first place.

And, of course, the record-setting win would come against DeMatha. It was appropriate for McKnight to set a coaching record like that against a team that was once led by the legendary Morgan Wootten, the nation’s all-time winningest coach, and someone McKnight has gotten to know over the years.

“We played them back in 1984, when Morgan was coaching and we came up short on that night, so I guess now we’re tied,” recalled McKnight. “Coach Wooten was always very, very nice to me.”

Wooten obviously knew how good of a coach McKnight was even before records started falling; Wooten appointed McKnight a coach in the McDonald’s All-American Game in New York City in 2001 following September 11.

To no one’s surprise, McKnight’s players adore him. Monarchs forward Tyler Lamb, who will play next year at UCLA, had nothing but nice words for his coach.

“Coach McKnight does so much for us on and off the court,” he said. “So for us to come out here and win this game for him, it’s awesome. To get him to be the winningest coach in California history on national TV, I don’t think there’s anything he wanted more.”

McKnight says that he not only tries to engage his team on the basketball court, but off it as well, which is even more prevalent with a team like the Monarchs, who spend the season travelling the country. For Lamb, McKnight has not only taught him how to be a better player, but also a better person.

“He’s taught me that just because you do good things for people, doesn’t mean you expect something in return,” he said. “(He’s taught me) just how to be a good person, and be humble, and that if you’re a good person, good things are going to come back to you.”

Perhaps, that is the reason that McKnight now stands alone in California coaching history.