1993-94 TIMES ALL-VALLEY BOYS’ BASKETBALL TEAM : COACH OF THE YEAR : Goffredo’s Falcons Were a Season-Long Surprise

Despite 16 years on the job as the Crescenta Valley High basketball coach, John Goffredo sure didn’t know much about his team.

Goffredo believed that because the Falcons had no returning starters, they wouldn’t do as well as in 1992-93. He guessed that when all three players on his starting front line suffered injuries early in the season, it was a bad sign.

As he prepared for the Southern Section Division I-AA championship game last month, he still couldn’t figure it out.

“I was just hoping to win a game or two (in the playoffs) and lay a decent foundation,” Goffredo said. “But it looks as if they’ve laid the foundation, put in the walls, the roof and the drywall.”

Crescenta Valley finished the regular season fourth in the Pacific League. It needed an at-large bid just to make the playoffs. Oddly, Goffredo petitioned to have the Falcons moved up from Division II-AA to I-AA because he thought the bracket with the larger schools would actually be easier for his inexperienced team.

No matter that the Falcons lost in the final after a succession of upsets. It was still a remarkable season, one that Goffredo endured with less than the usual vigor he displayed in his first 15 seasons coaching the Falcons. This was his first season since his wife Kathy died of cancer in August.

“It’s very rewarding when you do a good job at what you do and the kids respond,” Goffredo said before the championship game. “Teaching basketball, that is rewarding. For them to have this much success, I don’t personally need it. I don’t think I’m a better or worse coach because of what is happening, but it’s nice to be at the top of your profession.”