About our AAU Basketball Coaches
Boys Program Director and Head Coach Bio – Matt Durell
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Matt Durell grew up in the town of Lafayette where he was a standout basketball and baseball player at Acalanes High School. Coach Durell played on a traveling AAU team since the sixth grade, where he competed in the West Coast's top tournaments and invitational’s. In 2000, Coach attended Cal Poly University of San Luis Obispo as a Sports Management Major. In 2004, coach travelled to Australia to study abroad and play for the Griffith University Greendogs basketball team and helped lead his team to the National University Games Tournament and a 5th place national finish. Upon his return to Cal Poly, Durell concentrated on coaching and interned as a Student Assistant with the Men's Basketball Team and coached for the local AAU program; 3Ball Basketball Academy. Post graduation Durell moved back to the Bay Area and worked with one of California’s top AAU programs Flight Elite and coached in many regional AAU Tournaments on the West Coast. Matt also worked as the Adult Athletic Coordinator and Head Boys AAU director/coach at the JCCSF from 2006-2009. Coach Durell is currently the Junior Varsity Basketball coach at Stuart Hall High School of San Francisco and has lead the Knights to three first place BCL finishes in the past three seasons. He will coach the Knights again in the 2012-2013 season.
“I grew up with a love of sports and view athletics as a great opportunity to learn lifelong skills that transcend the athletic realm. I aspire to develop players who play an unselfish brand of team first basketball, have tremendous character and give 100% effort in whatever they undertake. On the court, I teach the fundamentals of an aggressive, fast paced, but disciplined motion offense, strong man to man team defense and many variations of zones and press. As a coach, my team goals are to always Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together, and Have Fun!"
-- Matt Durell
Boys Head Coach Bio - Will Watkins
Coach Will Watkins is a San Francisco native who has become synonymous with San Francisco youth basketball over the last 10 years. Coach Will attended St. Anne School, where his love for basketball began as he started playing competitive CYO basketball at an early age. Will then attended Archbishop Riordan High School where ran cross country and played basketball under coach Rich Forslund. After graduating from Riordan, coach Will coached both boys, and girls basketball at St. Anne. From 2003 to 2009 coach Will's impressive teams appeared in the CYO championship game every year. His 2010/2011 boys 5th grade team captured the 5th grade Division 1 city championship! Coach Will has also coached for several other youth basketball leagues throughout San Francisco. Will has been coaching with Bay City for three seasons and also specializes in one on one training. We are thrilled to have Coach Will as a part of our coaching staff.
“99.9% of youth basketball players don't become professional basketball players so the life lessons taught by coaches and role models are more important than anything basketball related. Although valuable, the outcomes of the games and physical skills learned are not nearly as influential as teaching youth good sportsmanship, strong work ethic, having a positive attitude, constructive teamwork and most importantly how to win at life.”
--Will Watkins
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