Gonzalez is back on the court

By Thomas Oide,

HUB Staff Writer–

Just five days ago, men’s basketball coach Daniel Gonzalez was the latest to take a ride on the Davis High coaching carousel, deciding to step down from his position as head coach of the basketball team.

But today, Oct 1, Gonzalez changed his mind, announcing that he plans to return to the helm of the DHS basketball program.

One of the main reasons why is because of the impact his decision had on his seniors.

“Number one: I didn’t think it was a good situation for our seniors,” Gonzalez said. “I think it was a tough situation for them. If there is anybody that I’m doing this for, it is for them.”

“There was a lot of awesome support from the community members; families of players that I’ve had,” Gonzalez added. “It’s just awesome to have that kind of support.”

Gonzalez did have some concerns with not being able to assemble his coaching staff but says those concerns have since been solved.

“There were some concerns I had in athletics and within the basketball program. I had a good chance to discuss with administration both on site and off site, and I felt more comfortable with the whole coaching situation,” Gonzalez said. “Once I was able to have that conversation with some of our folks, I just felt better.”

Gonzalez has not yet finalized his assistant coaches, as he said that “assistants come and go.”

The focus for the DHS basketball program will be on finding a replacement for retired JV basketball coach Bob Silva, and Gonzalez and administrators will be interviewing for that position next week.

Gonzalez’s return means that DHS fans will get to see at least one more year of The System, a run-and-gun system that had the Devil basketball lead the state in scoring average last year.

Gonzalez has yet to decide whether this season will be his final year as the Blue Devil basketball coach.

“I will make that decision when the season ends,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t want to go through the season having that already determined. I don’t want that to be in the way of our season. When we go through a season, I want to keep a focus on the kids because I think they deserve what’s best. As an employee of this district, I think that’s the one thing that everybody needs to keep in mind: what is good for the kids?”