CCS Coach of the Year
CHUCK RAPP, SERRA
Saying Serra basketball suffered a few setbacks from the end of the 2012-2013 season to the start of this season is like saying
Custer's 7th Cavalry incurred a few casualties at Little Bighorn.
Recapping, Serra's best young player, Eddie Stansberry, left the school. Paul Smoot, the best player on the junior varsity team,
tore his ACL and was lost for the 2013-2014 season. Six-foot-six center Matt Dickerson - who doubles as a dominant football lineman -
injured his neck and never played football or basketball this season. Oh and by the way, Henry Caruso, one of the finest players to ever
suit up for Serra, graduated and is not playing at Princeton.
But as any horse owner like Serra coach Chuck Rapp knows, you race the horse you brought to the track. The veteran Rapp did that, taking
a team most figured for the bottom half of the WCAL to a 22-9 record and within 16 minutes of a CCS Open Division title. For that, Rapp
is the Prep2Prep CCS Boys Coach of the Year.
"He gets his kids to play harder than any other team in the league," St. Ignatius coach Tim Reardon said. "He's a great motivator.
He doesn't necessarily try to outsmart the opponent, but he makes sure that his kids get every 50-50 ball, that they control the boards,
and that they play with passion every game.
"The physicality with which his teams play defense forces the opponents out of their sets. We really can't run plays against Serra
because they won't let you make cuts without chugging out of position ... They just wear you down with their tenacity."
At Serra, as always, it's all about defense.
"Defense is the rock on which we build our church," Rapp said. "Anyone can be a good defender. We emphasize not taking possessions
off, getting three stops in a row and making things uncomfortable on the offense. On offense, we look for five guys who will share
the ball and don't care who gets credit for the win. If you get that and have some talent you'll get good results. If you have a
lot of talent, you'll get phenomenal results."
Rapp has gotten the latter, winning a NorCal title (2005), three CCS titles (2004, 2005 and 2006) and three league titles (2003, 2004 and 2005).
This season he did not have the most talent in the league with only one starter, Sean Watkins, returning. But he squeezed every ounce of
talent out of players like Danny Mahoney, Jimmy Wohrer, Trevor Brown, Cory Cravalho, mid-year transfer Jake Killingsworth, Seth Bartlett
and Watkins to lead the Padres to a second-place finish in the WCAL and a 16-point lead over Mitty in the section title game before
the Monarchs rallied in the second half.
In NorCals, Serra made it to the semifinals before losing to No. 1 seed Folsom by one point.
"Coach Rapp is one (heck) of a coach," Watkins said. "I will always remember what he did for us as a coach and as a mentor. He seems to
get everyone to buy in and believe that we are in the fight no matter what anyone else thinks of us."
Said Mahoney: "Coach Rapp is an unbelievable. He is respected because he is a proven winner regardless of talent on a team. ... He is the
best motivator I have ever seen or heard. For me personally coach Rapp is my basketball role model but more importantly my life role model.
I have learned so much from playing for him and lessons that I will carry with me throughout the entirety of my life."
The Cal grad is known for his boxing analogies and references to the wild such as lions, cheetahs, wildebeast - anything to fire up
his troops. But his success is rooted in the man defense learned from Bud Presley disciple John Grosey, the former great Serra player
and coach. That's carried Rapp through 14 years as the Padre coach, along with an unselfish motion offense.
It all began with the Padre freshman B team 20 years ago when Rapp's go-to guy was a plodding big man with soft hands named Tom
Brady who went on to do pretty well in the National Football League.
"He was very good - a post guy who was big and skilled," Rapp said. "He was our MVP that season. He used the backboard well and
had good post moves."
Rapp, 45, was pleased when Brady returned to West 20th Avenue a few years ago as the keynote speaker at Serra's annual "Fund a Dream"
scholarship night and gave his old coach Rapp a shoutout.
Typical of Rapp's humble nature, he shares the credit, thanking his assistants Sean Dugoni, Brian Carson and Bobby McCarthy and
his first Padre assistant back in the day, Bob Christensen, who is now at Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills High.
Also considered: Pete Harames, Burlingame; Tim Kennedy, Archbishop Mitty; Tony Martinelli, Sacred Heart Prep; Rich Buckner, Archbishop Riordan;
Rich Forslund, Half Moon Bay; Mani Messy, Pinewood; Patrick Judge, Leigh.
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