De la Salle: Football vs. Basketball

[jwise0022 1]

Thought I'd start a new topic of conversation, this being the off season and all. Read the following, then ask yourself what's more impressive, the De la Salle football or basketball team? DLS is currently ranked in the USAToday top 25 in BBall.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctime...ol/13810492.htm

Consistent Allocco always on the goBy Chace BrysonCONTRA COSTA TIMESWhen Frank Allocco applied to become Northgate High School's boys basketball coach in the summer of 1991, he did so on a whim.

"When (then athletic director) Bob Johnson called to offer me the job, I had to tell him I'd call him back after I ran it by my wife," Allocco said. "I really didn't think I was going to get it."

Now coaching in his 15th season -- six with Northgate and nine with De La Salle -- Allocco stands on the threshold of a milestone. A victory tonight at Ygnacio Valley will be the 400th of Allocco's career.

Though he had run summer camps and coached in the Catholic Youth Organization for several years, Allocco had no coaching experience at the high school level when he applied at Northgate.

"If you know Frank at all, he always comes well prepared," said Johnson, now the principal of Foothill Middle School in Walnut Creek. "It wasn't a particularly difficult choice for us to make."

It was a choice that brought immediate results.

"Northgate was coming off a 7-19 season, and I went into my first meeting with the players telling them we were going to win a state championship," Allocco said.

The Broncos won 22 games that first season, and Northgate's lone state title came three years later. Allocco, who added another state title with De La Salle in 2000, has never won fewer than 21 games in a season. His 399-59 record equates to an .871 winning percentage, third best in state history.

"Fifteen seasons, it's gone fast and I've had great kids," Allocco said in the office of his Pacheco-based company that publishes and distributes educational materials for grades K-12. "But I've always said that I don't consider myself a basketball coach. I'm a teacher of life, and basketball is the vehicle I use to carry that out. Winning just follows."

Allocco has always been a winner. As a two-sport athlete at Notre Dame, he was part of the basketball team that ended UCLA's NCAA-record 88-game winning streak, and he was a backup quarterback for the Fighting Irish football team that defeated Alabama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl and claimed a share of the national championship.

Allocco points to his time playing for beloved Irish football coach Ara Parseghian as the foundation for much of his coaching philosophy.

Parseghian, who remains close with Allocco, is far from surprised at his former pupil's coaching success.

"He's very conscientious, a hard worker and he's detail-oriented," Parseghian said in a phone interview from his home in Marco Island, Fla. "That separates people as far as coaching is concerned."

Nevertheless, Parseghian admitted he didn't necessarily peg Allocco as a future coach during his time at Notre Dame.

"Guys that follow what their interests are have a good chance of being successful," Parseghian said. "Did I see Frank going into coaching? No. But I felt that whatever he did, he was going to find a way to be successful."

Allocco's passion has been a key part of his success. Equally important is his ability to pass that passion on to his players. Allocco's teams are renowned for their effort. Both his state champions went into their title games as underdogs.

"Frank's true gift is how he gets people to believe," said Brian Sullivan, Allocco's assistant for 15 seasons. "He's not afraid to push you, and the harder he works, the more you push yourself. He gets kids to do what they normally wouldn't do."

Rekalin Sims, the De La Salle center named 2002 Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year, echoed those sentiments last April when he earned a scholarship to the University of Kentucky after two seasons at Salt Lake City Community College.

"He was really the foundation for me," Sims said the week he signed with the Wildcats. "He taught me what I know, he taught me how to play hard, and he put it all on the line (for us)."

Between his publishing business and coaching, Allocco rarely takes time off.

"Nobody works harder. Nobody," Sullivan said. "He sleeps likes four hours a night. If Frank gets six hours of sleep, it's like a bear hibernating. He never cheats anything in his life."

No. 400 will still leave Allocco a long way from the state record for victories (843, by former Bishop O'Dowd coach Mike Phelps), but he isn't finished yet. At 52, he shows little sign that his competitive fire is flickering.

"As long as I'm trying to get better, I'll keep doing it," Allocco said. "I still have energy, and love being around the kids. I'll know when it's time, but right now I'm enjoying every minute of it."

[auwallace 6]

maybe i'm just stupid but this article has nothing to do with high school football

[WarTim 3,456]

maybe i'm just stupid but this article has nothing to do with high school football

218523[/snapback]

Not to mention Auburn Football.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

De la Salle has a FB team? Do they get French benefits?