Davis will honor retiring hoops coach Pacheco on Friday

For the first time in decades, Davis High boys basketball coach Dan Pacheco will call a full timeout and not draw up a single play.

Pacheco will retire from the Spartan bench after the season, bringing to close a decorated career that has included stops at Corcoran and Ceres high schools and Modesto Junior College.

Mostly, though, Pacheco has been a Spartan, and on Friday evening before Davis’ final home game, generations of former players will celebrate their basketball coach and life mentor.

Pacheco has been coaching basketball in the Stanislaus District for 35 years, including the last 20 inside Robert H. Taylor Gymnasium. He’ll leave his post as one of the all-time winningest coaches in district history.

His longevity speaks to his level of commitment to the student-athlete – Pacheco says he’d “run through walls” for his players – but that service has come with great sacrifice.

In the second half of his life, Pacheco is making one fundamental adjustment: he and his family will come first, not his players and program.

“It’s always been about basketball after school. It’s 11 months out of the year … if you want it to be a successful year,” said Pacheco, who will retire from teaching in December. “I have nothing on the horizon. I’m going to take it one day at a time and enjoy the people around me.”

He’ll see plenty of familiar faces on Friday evening in what promises to be an emotional send-off. Athletic director Tim Garcia is calling the event “Pacheco’s tribute: Saluting a legend.”

The festivities will take place before the Spartans’ Modesto Metro Conference tilt with Downey at 7:15.

The event will begin with a human tunnel for Pacheco and his players to enter through, gifts and a few words from Garcia, who played for Pacheco from 1996-1998.

“He’s had such a positive influence on so many people. He’s won six championships, including a stint of three in a row. He has (473) wins, but the biggest thing he’s helped us learn is that it’s about the relationships,” Garcia said. “He goes above and beyond the game of basketball. He cares about the people and individuals here at Davis. Those relationships are why people play so hard for him and want to come back and be a part of it.”

Commemorative shirts will be sold at the door. Those that played for Pacheco are encouraged to RSVP with Garcia, who will customize their shirts with the years they played for Pacheco. Garcia can be reached at (209) 985-6378.

“It will be neat to see the different generations of kids,” Pacheco said. “Many of them are men now; not kids. To see those faces will be great; to see what they’re doing with their lives and the impact we’ve had.”

Pacheco has tried to keep his focus on the final few games of the season. Davis (14-8, 7-4) sits comfortably in third in the MMC with two games remaining. The top-three teams qualify for the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. Yet as the final home game nears and the buzz in the community builds, he’s finding it harder to fight the emotion.

Pacheco began his coaching career at Ceres High, where he was mentored by a freshman coach by the name of Phil de la Porte.

“I was a young coach, maybe 24 or 25,” Pacheco said. “Phil was my freshman coach. He taught me so much about the game.”

After leading the Bulldogs to two championships in the now-defunct Golden Valley League, Pacheco spent nine years as an assistant to Tim Conway with the Modesto Junior College men’s basketball team. He coached the defense for the “Ugly Duckings,” the Pirates’ Camino Norte Conference championship team in 1990-91.

At the time, Pacheco had hopes of becoming a junior college coach, but he’d find his career in the most unlikely of places: Davis High.

“Junior college was always a dream for me. I was in the running for a couple of junior college jobs, but that situation didn’t happen,” he said. “I felt I was a pretty talented person, so I decided to go to high school and work my tail off. Davis was the perfect place for me. The kids here reflected my personality with their work ethic and their toughness.

“I really feel blessed to have had this kind of career. You’re a servant, you really are. I’m honored to serve basketball and education.”

Davis has won six league championships under Pacheco, including three straight from 2010-2012. During that stretch, the Spartans went 29-1 in conference games.

He has a career record of 473-240 (Wednesday’s result wasn’t available by press time), and will close his final season with one last postseason trip. Pacheco also won a championship as the varsity head coach at Corcoran High.

Pacheco will be replaced by Brian Bergerson, a Johansen High graduate and two-year member of his staff.

“It’s a big void we’re going to have to fill,” Garcia said. “He’s a coaching legend.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Davis will honor retiring hoops coach Pacheco on Friday."