Turning on the AC: Energy, hope fueling Wolfson’s turnaround plan
Unfortunately an unexpected meeting cost me the opportunity to take in the St. Francis High basketball team’s Mission League home opener Wednesday evening.
Snapchat posts from fans and retweets from coaches showcased the Golden Knights’ remodeled home complete with a brand new court, scoreboard and paint. All that was missing was fireworks.
The atmosphere was lively and fun and marked the next step in coach Todd Wolfson’s plan for the remodeling of the St. Francis High program.
“Everything is brand new except for the backboards of the basket and the bleachers,” Wolfson said. “New ceiling, new lights, new floors, new scoreboards, a new LED scorer’s table and now we go lights out on the intros and it’s a fun deal.”
If you follow Wolfson on Twitter, the coach is tweeting out instructions for his team every day.
There are words of encouragement, tweets on values the coach feels are important for team building all along with hashtags like #GoKnights and #TeamFirst.
The tweets, the offseason yoga plan and the fresh set of paint in the gym are all leading to something.
But what?
“It’s definitely important and like I said, when I came to St. Francis, they’ve been nothing but receptive in what I’ve had a vision on and the way I feel the program should go,” Wolfson said. “I’d like to be there long term and it was definitely a start in the right direction in terms of the facility. I’m very happy and the kids are really happy.”
I remember covering St. Francis games a decade ago at the end of the John Jordan era and right at the beginning of Jeff Stephens’ and Ray O’Brien’s tenure.
Playing in the Mission League is no picnic and has usually meant a lot more losses than wins for St. Francis.
That losing has often been infectious and daunting.
Even good St. Francis teams had to deal with multiple blowout defeats on a yearly basis.
Those losses left a stale air in the gym and wore on the kids in postgame interviews.
Wolfson, who averaged 20 wins per season at Chaminade and took home a state championship during the 2013-14 season, has faced those hurdles head on since he joined St. Francis before the 2015-16 campaign.
In two-plus seasons, the Golden Knights have combined for a 7-21 Mission League record with big losses to Loyola, Harvard-Westlake and Alemany.
When asked about those defeats, Wolfson doesn’t shy away.
“We always talk about failing,” he said. “Failing is the only way to learn and the only way to get better.
“You’re going to fail in life and it’s not about failure, but about how you bounce back from failure and how you learn from failure. I wish life was all about wins and fun and all that, but like with most things, you’re not always going to win.”
Sure, there’s been failure this season as well for St. Francis, but also hope.
A raucous student section jumped, sang and danced all game long, bringing an energy to the game that’s normally only seen during football season.
The gym was packed and the intensity was something Wolfson said he and his team really appreciated.
The loudest cheers came shortly after Andre Henry sank two free throws late to preserve a 67-65 win, St. Francis’ first league victory of the season.
“We’re trying to build a spark in the program,” Wolfson said. “We tell our guys all the time, if you guys are going to be team first and all in, so are we as a staff and so are we as a school.
“If you guys are going to share the ball and if you guys are going to buy into what we’re saying, we’re going to support you 110%. They’re going above and beyond for us and we’re doing the same for them.”
