The highly successful Nate DuChesne Era has ended, but don’t expect any dramatic changes for the Stanwood High School boys basketball team in 2005-06.
Brian Hunter, previously a Stanwood assistant, has been hired as the team’s new head coach. He replaces DuChesne, a 1985 Snohomish High graduate who earlier this summer took the head job at Edmonds Community College.
Hunter coached alongside DuChesne during DuChesne’s entire eight-year Stanwood run, which yielded seven postseason appearances, including sixth-place state-tournament finishes in 2001 and 2002.
“He understands the program,” Stanwood athletic director Jim Piccolo said of Hunter, who took the team to a camp last month at Gonzaga University in Spokane. ” … The boys are really excited about working with him. They know it’s not going to be a huge difference” from playing for DuChesne.
Understandably, Hunter wants to keep a good thing going.
“I’d be a fool to change a lot of the things Nate did,” said Hunter, 35, of Seattle. ” … I loved coaching with the guy. He’s a great coach, but he’s a better man.”
DuChesne quickly invigorated a struggling Stanwood program, eventually aided by stars like Marcus Steele and Ryan Appleby. Hunter, a 1988 Snohomish grad who has known DuChesne essentially his entire life, envisions continued success for Stanwood, which finished 10-10 last season (fifth in the Western Conference North Division). The Spartans return several talented players, including Aaron Boehme (9.1 points per game in 2004-05), Chris Cayford (12.6) and Derek Anderson (13.7).
“I think we’ll be competitive every game,” Hunter said. “They’re really good kids, and I’ve been working with them for a while.”
The current Stanwood group has the potential to perform as well as any of the school’s top recent teams, Hunter added.
“Quality of kids-wise, we have that type of a team,” said Hunter, who will be aided by varsity assistant Zach Ward.
Before coming to Stanwood with DuChesne, Hunter was a head coach for two years at Mount Vernon Christian. As an athlete, he was a guard at Snohomish and played one year at Skagit Valley College.
Hunter is one of three former DuChesne assistants to get new head coaching jobs in the past several months. The others: Aaron Nations, who was hired at Everett High after taking North Kitsap to state last season; and John Getzinger, who recently took the head job at Sedro-Woolley.
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