By Vivian Yenson, Staff Writer
Varsity boys’ basketball welcomed Coach D’Cean Bryant as their new head coach this ‘17-’18 season. Bryant’s goal was to improve the team’s performance as a whole and to make sure that they were well-prepared for their season and years to come by bringing his unique coaching experience to campus.
“When coming to Fountain Valley High School, I saw it as an opportunity to lead a program; I had never been head coach before. I’ve dealt with so many players: Kawhi Leonard, who plays for the [San Antonio] Spurs, Tony Snell, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, and Compton Magic. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to step into a great position to be the head coach of Fountain Valley basketball,” said Bryant.
Before coming to FVHS, Bryant was an assistant coach at Orange Lutheran High School for six years and helped the team win two back-to-back CIF titles. There, he was primarily involved in player development—creating practice plans, planning defensive schemes and improving player relationships.
Bryant hopes to improve the team’s performance by helping them build a stronger work ethic, increase player communication during games and most importantly, work together as a team.
“I believe if you change the culture and do certain things that help these young men grow, then basketball in itself will automatically grow. For me, [I focused on] how I can change the culture to make sure these guys believe in themselves first and then they can believe in each other,” said Bryant.
The team has responded well to this change, showing improvement in game plays and overall performance. “[The transition to a new coach] was difficult at first, since I’ve already spent three years with Schultz, but I knew I just had to move on”, said senior varsity captain Paul Vu. “I know D’Cean is a great coach and expects nothing less from us. [He] has focused more on individual technique and athleticism. I think he’s doing a great job pushing us further than we ever imagined.”
Overall, boys’ basketball finished 5th place in the Sunset League and improved from 1-9 last season to 3-7 and beat Edison for the first time in four years.
“This season was everything I thought it would be. It didn’t end the way we wanted to, but to see them push through it and make it through and play with each other, well dang we did it. For me that was the fun part, the exciting part,” said Bryant.
