Richmond, CA (PRWEB) December 12, 2014
Salesian College Preparatory, a leading San Francisco Bay Area Catholic high school, announced that boys basketball head coach Bill Mellis recorded his 400th career win when the Pride cruised past Skyline High School 83-37 at the Albany Tip Off Classic on Saturday.
Mellis has coached boys basketball at Salesian College Preparatory for 22 years, posting a 400-128 record during his 16 years as head coach. One of the San Francisco Bay Area’s elite high school coaches, Mellis has recorded more than 20 wins in each of the past 15 seasons, and his teams have won eight league championships, five North Coast Section Titles, three Northern California Regional Titles and two State Championships. In 2012, Mellis was honored as State Coach of the Year by ESPN. Mellis has had 35 former Salesian players go on to play college basketball.
“We’re extremely fortunate to have Bill Mellis at the helm of our boys basketball program,” said Timothy J. Chambers, Salesian’s president and principal. “In addition to what he teaches the boys on the court, he is a positive role model in all other aspects of life.”
Mellis credits three mentors for influencing his coaching style: his high school coach, Pete Newell, Jr.; former Cal coach Lou Campanelli who he worked for as a student assistant; and former Salesian coach Bill Treseler, who gave him his first coaching job. “Coach Newell taught me a lot about the X’s and O’s, Coach Campanelli taught me how to interact with players and gain their respect, and Coach Treseler showed me how to run a successful high school program.” Mellis also gives credit to “a great group of assistant coaches, and the tremendous players we’ve had come through the program.”
Mellis looks forward to many more years of coaching. “The Salesian basketball program is unique because of the stability of the coaching staff and our high expectation level of success, regardless of how many senior players graduate from year to year,” he said. He added, “Just as our school is a college preparatory school, our basketball program is a college preparatory program; we model it as closely as possible to how a college program is run, from study halls to practices to team meals and film sessions.”
For more information about Salesian College Preparatory, please visit http://www.salesian.com.
