Father-son high school basketball duos show the dynamic is challenging, but extra special
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It was a Monday morning at El Camino Real Charter High School and teacher Fluke Fluker asked his class if anyone did anything special over the weekend. A few hands flew up before students shared about a weekend trip to the snow or maybe a movie they saw.
Freshman JD Wyatt kept his hand down.
What Wyatt didn’t know is that Fluker knew the 15-year-old had scored 33 points, including 10 3-pointers, in a varsity basketball game over the weekend.
“He never raised his hand,” said Joe Wyatt, El Camino Real’s basketball coach and father of JD. “We lost, but Fluker knew, so at the end he talked about JD’s game with the class. When I heard that story, I was very proud because I tell him to always be humble.”
JD’s effort was notable. He hit five 3s in the fourth quarter alone, including one to tie the game with 1.5 seconds left. ECR ended up losing the game in overtime.
“I know he can shoot,” Joe said of his son. “We were down, so I was focused on winning the game instead of what he was doing. I was more surprised after the game when I realized he made 10 3s. He’s been humble about the whole thing. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
The player-coach relationship in sports is special, but for eight local boys basketball coaches the bond is a lot stronger because the player is also their son.
That dynamic has its pros and cons.
“A positive is being really comfortable with my dad, he’s been coaching me since I was little. A negative is if I play bad, having to go home with him,” JD said chuckling. “If I play badly, it’s just one game. If I play well, it’s just one game. On to the next.”
Each father-son relationship is different, but in these eight cases, dad has a whistle in his mouth.
Saugus coach Alfredo Manzano and his son Cristian, who is a senior, have set some boundaries through the years. A majority of the basketball talk stays at the gym nowadays, which creates a better separation between dad and coach.
“Separating dad and coach, that’s hard for me,” Alfredo said. “It was more of a struggle the first couple years, but I’ve realized Cristian is working really hard. I don’t have to worry about him. It took me a while to encourage him instead of always nit-picking the wrong things.”
For Crescenta Valley coach Shawn Zargarian, who’s been at the school for 26 years and been the head coach for 18, the approach with his freshman son Vaughn is more challenging off the court. Shawn’s wife, Nadine, died of cancer two summers ago. Zargarian is navigating the challenges of being tough and soft when Vaughn needs it.
“It’s really hard. I’m always holding my players to a high standard, and I run my house the same way. I am that person all the time,” Zargarian said. “My wife was so levelheaded and a sweet person. She was that buffer for him if I was too tough.”
Said Vaughn: “My dad is always on me. When I make a mistake, he lets me know. But I want it.”
Vaughn is a small-framed freshman, but helps the 11-2 Falcons with his dead-eye shooting from beyond the arc. Considering what he’s going through after losing his mother, dealing with high school for the first time, the responsibilities of varsity basketball, and playing for his father, he’s doing more than fine, according to Zargarian.
“I try and switch gears,” he said of how he tries to treat Vaughn. “I always remind him how proud I am of him. My wife was very academic and he has a very high grade-point average. I tell him she would be very proud, too. It’s a constant reminder.”
Pilibos coach Sarkis Balian has been at the team’s helm for 25 years. He’s coaching his second son, freshman Antranik. His older son, Kevorik, graduated last year and was part of an Eagles team that won 19 games before losing in the CIF-SS Division 4A final at Linfield Christian.
“I think Antranik is a better player because of Kevo,” Balian said. “There was an adjustment when I coached Kevo because I would hear things from the stands when he played. I even brought him off the bench because I felt like there was less pressure for him that way. But now with Antranik, there is no pressure. He’s a key to our success this season. It feels weird saying that because he’s my son, but it’s a fact.”
Antranik is averaging 18.8 points per game and has Pilibos off to a 12-1 start.
“My pops always has my back, and I like that,” Antranik said about playing for his father. “To me, he’s dad first, and sometimes I forget he’s my coach, too.”
David Goosen coaches his freshman son, Dylan, at Northridge Academy in the LA City Section. Dylan is quite the shooter and has made at least one 3-pointer in every game this season, including one performance where he made six.
“Some people think I’m on the team just because my dad is the coach,” Dylan said. “But I like to show that’s not the case at all.”
One of the most obvious challenges a coach has when coaching their own child is making sure there’s no special treatment. Sometimes, that effort turns into a dad being too hard on their son.
“It’s not easy to play for your dad, especially because of the perception,” David Goosen said. “But Dylan wants to work for everything, which makes me proud.”
Valencia coach Bill Bedgood coaches his sophomore son Bryce, who is 6-foot-6 and has goals to play college basketball. Bedgood has sent many kids to the next level and is trying to gauge his son’s progress.
“I think it’s great to see his development every day. That’s a positive. But I guess it could be bad too,” Bedgood said laughing. “That progression goes by a lot slower when you see it every day.”
Bryce played 11 junior varsity games in the spring and is playing on the varsity team this season. Bedgood is doing his best to understand that all first-year varsity players make mistakes. He’s exercising patience and doing it with a sense of humor.
“My wife is one of my most difficult parents this year,” he added.
Sam Harris has been coaching at Chatsworth High for more than 15 years. His stepson, Tim Lopez, was a toddler when Harris started coaching and was a youngster when Harris helped coach Chatsworth to its first City title in 2011. Now, Lopez is torching the nets as a senior. Last season, Lopez was an All-City selection after leading the Chancellors to a Division I title.
There is one player who might have it harder than the others who play on their father’s team.
That would be Chaminade senior Caden Cantwell, whose father Bryan is the boys basketball coach and assistant athletic director, and his mother Beth teaches ninth-grade health and is the Director of Diversity at the school.
“Having both my parents at the school was tough my first year, and I talked with my dad about transferring,” Caden said. “He convinced me to stay one more year.”
The Eagles won a CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship last season.
“I really wanted that experience for my son,” Bryan Cantwell said. “It was special to win that with him.”
The relationship between Bryan and Caden changed from sophomore to junior season, because so did the goal.
“He told me he wanted to play college basketball,” Cantwell said of Caden as a freshman and sophomore. “So I was pushing him to put in the extra work. Sometimes that would create challenges.”
Said Caden: “When I decided I didn’t want to pursue college basketball that changed a lot.”
Caden said he anticipates senior night will be emotional for his family. It was emotional when his older brother, Kieran, had his last home game. Caden thinks his dad will cry. But when he looks back on the decision to stay at Chaminade and play for his dad, it’s a “no-brainer.”
“I really, really like it now. I couldn’t see it any other way,” he said.