The journey is beginning all over for former Navy Chief Petty
Officer Tom Dean. Dean, who has been coaching with the San Benito
High girls basketball program for five years, is taking over this
year as the new head chief for Richard Silva, who is now coaching
at Live Oak.
The journey is beginning all over for former Navy Chief Petty Officer Tom Dean. Dean, who has been coaching with the San Benito High girls basketball program for five years, is taking over this year as the new head chief for Richard Silva, who is now coaching at Live Oak. Silva and Dean helped establish the summer basketball program at San Benito High School.
“I learned a lot from the freshman coach, Drew Houston, the first year I was in the program,” Dean said. “Everything else comes from experience. The town started growing like crazy, so you have a lot more talent. The girls have bought into my philosophy. I love the game. That is a big part of it.”
The 63-year-old Dean lives on a 110-acre ranch in Paicines and has been watching Baler home and away games for the past ten years.
Dean started coaching with the freshman team because there were 15 girls and only one coach at the time. After coaching the freshmen team for two years, Dean headed the JV program for the last three years. He was the assistant coach for the varsity for the past four years as well.
“I am very excited because I coached several of the girls last year,” Dean said. “We are going to be very young on the varsity, but we will be very athletic from top to bottom. We’re going to be very competitive at all three levels.”
During his tenure at San Benito, Dean has amassed a commendable record of 121-15. Execution has been the key to success, Dean said.
“Every team that we are going to go up and play against all year long knows what we are going to do,” Dean said. “They already know my offense and my defense, but we keep winning. If we go out and execute, it will be there and it will work.” For Dean, it is all about trust. One of the drills that he likes to use is having a player shoot free throws while the whole team watches. If she misses it, everyone except the shooter has to run the suicide up and back down the court.
“I believe in the players and in trust,” Dean said. “The players earn each other’s trust and earn my trust, and I earn their trust. It is a two-way street. The team that plays the best as a team will win. It may not necessarily be the best talented team that wins. But if you have the best team, you will be successful.”
Dean wants to play everyone about the same amount of time in each game to build up that trust.
“Any player that is on the team should play,” Dean said. “If they are not good enough to play, they shouldn’t be on the team. The girls on the varsity will play every game. I set down with a game plan to keep it balanced as much as I can.”
Dean uses the “AIE” principle in his coaching approach. “A” is for attitude, “I” is for intensity and “E” is for execution. A big part of Dean’s philosophy is having players learn and grow from their mistakes.
“I believe in believing in them, in encouragement and positive reinforcement,” Dean said. “My junior high football coach told me that if you make mistakes, you should learn from them.”
Last year, the JV team went 27-2, losing just to St. Francis and Menlo-Atherton. Dean played ball in high school while he was in Texas before going right into the Navy. It was while he was in high school that he had his front four teeth knocked out. “I went up for a layup and the guy cut my legs out,” Dean said. “I came down, hit the floor and woke up in the coach’s office. The first thing he asked me was if I had a girl friend.”
Dean served in the Navy for 22 years. He was a flight engineer at Moffett field. After his Navy duty ended, Dean worked for United Technologies for 15 years. His unique background makes him uniquely qualified as a coach.
“You learn a lot of life experiences in basketball,” Dean said. “You have to learn how to deal with the diversity and personalities on the team. Anything worth having in this world, you have to work hard for.”
Dean has a whole new coaching staff under him this year this year. Amber Berg, who was the assistant coach last year is now the girls JV coach and assistant coach in addition to teaching English. Berg, who played basketball in Minnesota for her junior college, came to Hollister as the result of a job fair. Her assistant is Lillia Flores – a counselor at San Benito who played high school basketball in Gilroy. “We won’t hold that against her,” Dean said jokingly.
The new freshman coach is former Baler hoopster Ryan Harden. Dean will need all the help he can get from the coaches. “On game day I can’t eat because I am so nervous because I so excited,” Dean said. “The players actually have to calm me down.”
