Mater Dei coach McKnight makes basketball, family a win-win situation

When you can be introduced with the adjective “winningest” before your profession, you have probably found your calling in life.

For Gary McKnight, that chosen profession is coaching high school basketball.

The 34-year head coach at Mater Dei of Santa Ana, Calif., has the best winning percentage in the history of high school basketball at 92 percent with a record of 1,036-90. Not bad for a guy who never played organized basketball.

“He loves the day-to-day interaction with the kids,” said McKnight’s son Clay, who played for him and now coaches with him. “It never gets old to him. Every now and then you find someone who is just kind of made for this. He loves everything that goes along with his job, and has since Day 1.”

McKnight, 63, is attempting to add to his grossly impressive record this week in the 35th Beach Ball Classic at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. His Monarchs (12-0) played St. John’s (D.C.) late Tuesday night for the right to play Shadow Mountain (Ariz.) in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Last week, McKnight was named a nominee for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Finalists will be announced during NBA All-Star Weekend in February and inductees will be announced April 4, the day of the NCAA men’s championship game.

The Naismith Hall has previously honored McKnight with the Morgan Wooten Award for Lifetime Achievement in Coaching High School Basketball in 2014, and he was that year’s Naismith High School Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.

Numerous factors go into McKnight’s success, but the most important one may be that he makes the team and sport a family affair.

Clay was constantly around his father and the program from the age of 3, and it’s now grandkids who are mainstays around the team.

“He makes it all a family and that helps,” said McKnight’s wife of 40 years, Judy. “We have grandkids now that are always around the team, and any younger brothers [of players] are ball boys or this or that. It takes a certain person to be a coach. But if you make it in the family and have everybody in it, then it works with me too. He involves everybody.”

For McKnight, the family involvement is both a choice and a necessity.

“You have to. Too many coaches can’t coach long because the family suffers too much. If you don’t do it as a team you don’t have a chance,” McKnight said. “… My wife takes on the kids like they’re her own kids, and she’s close to a lot of them.”

In addition to the long high school season, McKnight said Mater Dei has a summer schedule of 40-plus games. He also coaches his grandson’s fifth-grade basketball team, and formerly taught Little League and club baseball.

“I have one of the best jobs in the world because every day I enjoy what I do,” McKnight said.

It didn’t take McKnight long to find his passion.

Though he played baseball in high school and college, he began coaching youth basketball on weekends and travel teams as a sophomore in high school. “I’d like to have been a baseball coach, too,” he said. “I started coaching [basketball] when I was really young and fell in love with it.”

McKnight received a teaching degree in biology primarily so he could get a coaching job, and he transitioned to teaching Physical Education years ago. He coached junior varsity basketball at Ocean View High in Huntington Beach, Calif., before being offered the job at Mater Dei in 1982.

McKnight found a perfect fit for his passion with Mater Dei, a coed Catholic school with approximately 2,100 students.

“It has all the right cornerstones,” McKnight said. “It’s a great academic school, we’ve got a great athletic program, we’ve got faith with campus ministry, and we have great activities other than basketball. For me to be there 34 years, they’ve been very supportive of everything I’ve done basketball-wise, and we have great kids.”

His record is more impressive than the mere win percentage considering Mater Dei annually travels to multiple tournaments that feature some of the best high school teams in the country.

“The success I think is just a reflection of his day to day approach,” said Clay, who is the only one of five brothers who played for their father, as the others chose other sports. “He doesn’t want the kids to fail so he tries to prepare them as good as possible. We’re always prepared.”

McKnight seeks competent assistants who can balance any of his weaknesses with their strengths. Assistant Jason Quinn played for McKnight from 1987-90, winning a state championship his senior year. He coached on his staff from 1992-95 and returned to the staff for good in 2001.

Jerry Debusk, who coached Klay Thompson at Santa Margarita Catholic, was added to the staff after he retired in 2012 after 20 years at the school.

“I’m not afraid to surround myself with people who are better than me in certain areas,” McKnight said. “I think we all have different strengths. You can’t be afraid to hire good people.”

All of the records and accolades almost never occurred. McKnight was diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer, which is believed to result from exposure to asbestos, 20 years ago.

It was diagnosed during a physical and McKnight said he has no idea how he got it. He was told the cancer’s survival rate is 8-10 percent. He had a large tumor and lost part of his lung, 2 1/2 ribs and a couple inches of matter around the tumor during surgery to remove it.

“They say after five years if you’re clear, you’re clear, so I’m very lucky,” McKnight said. “If I didn’t have the physical I’d be dead.”

McKnight has been more appreciative of his life and its gifts since the cancer scare. “A lot of my older players say I’m not as tough as I used to be,” McKnight said. “I’m probably not. I stop to enjoy it a little more. I think it makes you feel how fortunate you are and not take things for granted.”

For all of McKnight’s success, he’s still looking for a Beach Ball title in his third appearance, though the Monarchs are 6-2 in their previous tournament appearances. They lost to Ballard (Ky.) in the 2000 championship game and lost to a Herndon (Va.) team that included former Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds in the 2005 quarterfinals before winning their final two games.

“It’s a very good tournament with very tough teams,” McKnight said. “I called [tournament director] John [Rhodes] and said, ‘You know John, it’s time I come back here.’ I really enjoy this.

“Coming to the East Coast is good for the kids. I love going and doing things with the kids and getting out.”

McKnight’s former players include current or former NBA and/or college stars Stanley Johnson of the Detroit Pistons – who helped Mater Dei win four consecutive state titles – Reggie Geary, Miles Simon, twins David and Travis Wear, Taylor King, Cedric Bozeman, LeRon Ellis, Mike Hopkins and Schea Cotton.

Many of his former players, including many of the stars, regularly return to visit McKnight.

“He has a lot of kids who come back,” Clay said. “Almost everybody comes back and says, ‘Coach McKnight, I had such a great experience.’ And that’s what you live for. He gets that a lot. That’s kind of where the joy comes in.”

Clay is also a returnee. After playing basketball at Pacific – leading the NCAA in free throw percentage as a senior – he spent several years coaching in college, including three years as a coaching administrative assistant for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse at a time when the Orange won the national championship, and three years on Ben Howland’s UCLA staff when the Bruins reached two Final Fours.

Clay is often asked if his father is going to retire any time soon. “It has never even crossed his mind,” Clay said. “He just loves what he does. He doesn’t like golf, doesn’t like hanging out by the pool and reading a book. He likes what he does.”

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 10:01 PM with the headline "Mater Dei coach McKnight makes basketball, family a win-win situation."