Monte Vista Scores Castro Valley High's Head Varsity Coach

Nick Jones has a simple example on why he’s going back to Monte Vista High after .

His path back down Crow Canyon Road started after the Mustangs coach Bill Powers decided to step down, Jones said.

“Coach Powers, who is a good friend and mentor, resigned, and ,” Jones said Sunday evening.

Jones, a graduate of Monte Vista in 1998, was junior varsity coach at the Danville school for four years before getting the head varsity job at Division I Castro Valley in 2007.

There, he guided the Trojans to a 123-26 record during his five seasons, and his 2010-11 squad won the North Coast Section championship en route to a 30-2 season that ended just one step shy of the state championship game, the team bowing to De La Salle in the Northern California final.

On returning to Monte Vista, Jones said, “It was a chance to go home. It’s a good program. I am getting to go to a good opportunity long term and it was a time for a change.”

Jones was offered and took the job Wednesday night, immediately informed Castro Valley athletic director Andy Popper and told his Trojans team on Thursday evening. He will continue to teach at Castro Valley until the end of the school year.

He was looking forward to talking to his new “MV kids” for the first time on Monday night and watching them work out at an open gym on Wednesday evening.

He professed not to know too much about those players who may be returning from the Mustangs’ 20-9 team that lost to Castro Valley 69-60 in the NCS tournament in March.

But Jones vowed that “whoever they are we’re going to coach ‘em up, and it doesn’t matter. We’re just real excited about getting going over there.”

The “we” to whom Jones is referring will be a different group of assistant coaches. His three varsity assistants at Castro Valley are “all die-hard Castro Valley guys,” he said, who likely will stay there and could apply to fill his head coaching position.

At MV, Jones said, the number of assistants he will have is still to be decided. “There is no maximum number and no minimum number,” the coach said. “Whatever is going to be a good fit we are going to go with.”

That’s something he hopes to get to later in the week, but his priority is to meet the kids on his team and see them work out.

About the Castro Valley team he is departing, Jones said: “They are such a great group of guys. There is a lot of talent there and they work so hard. So,  whoever takes over is getting a great group of kids.”

Three players off the NorCal finalist 2010-11 team have become college players.

Senior Dawson Johnson was one of the best players if not the best in the East Bay last season and junior-to-be Jalen McFerren was outstanding as a sophomore.

Asked if that kind of talent will be or may already be at Monte Vista, Jones respectfully requested not to answer. But Jones did say he was “stepping into a good situation” at Monte Vista, where the school has a “very good tradition.”

Jones also noted that while Powers has stepped down, he will still be a teacher at Monte Vista and will be “a valued source.” Powers, who has an infant daughter and plans to spend more time with his family, will keep his hands in coaching as an assistant at Diablo Valley College.

Jones also credited Castro Valley High officials for being “understanding and very respectful” of his decision and said whoever replaces him there will have “a very supportive administration.”

Jones also said he vowed to Trojans athletic director Popper “to do everything in my power to make the transition as easy as possible.”

Popper said, “We’re sorry to see him leave, but I’m extremely happy for him.  He has a good opportunity over there.”

The athletic director, who is a former head football coach of the Trojans, said the search for Jones’ successor hasn’t begun yet, but he expects it to begin by the end of the week after he has meetings with the administration.

Popper said it may be a “tricky situation” in that a decision must be made whether strictly a basketball coach will be hired or if it will be a basketball coach/full-time teacher position.

Whichever way the school goes, Popper expects the position will attract “a bunch of quality candidates because it’s such a high-profile job.”