The wins, titles and sideline tirades. What will 400 career wins mean to Keith Hunter?

Golden Valley boys basketball coach Keith Hunter doesn’t get upset at his longtime assistant Jerry Stillahn very often. The two have sat one chair a part from each other on the Cougars bench for 22 years.

However, the two will disagree once in a while.

One such occasion happened in 2007. Hunter didn’t appreciate Stillahn’s dim outlook toward the end that season. The Cougars were limping to the finish like with a 10-14 record. The team had been hit hard by injuries all season, including losing their leading scorer Laitaud Prophete to a knee injury late in the season.

“We weren’t going to make the playoffs, our leading scorer blew his knee up in the fourth to last game of the season and things looked bleak,” Stillahn said. “(Hunter) asked me how many we could win out of the last three. We had Turlock, Atwater and Merced left and two of those teams were one and two in the league. I told him it would be great if we could win one. He got mad at me and told me we were going to win all three.”

First up was a road game at Turlock.

Hunter decided to slow the game down, telling the kids they are not to take a shot until there’s at most 5 seconds left on the shot clock.

“Shot clock violations were OK,” Stillahn said. “If you’ve ever watched any of our games, that’s not how we play.”

Golden Valley defeated Turlock 35-32.

Next up was Atwater and the Cougars drilled the Falcons 73-54.

The final game was against a Merced team that was undefeated in league at 11-0.

“They were undefeated that year and were rolling teams,” Stillahn said. “We blew them out that night and I’ve never doubted (Hunter) again. That was a crucial building block for our program. We went to Arco the next season with the juniors from that team.”

Stillahn says Hunter’s optimism combined with his high expectations have been a hallmark of the Golden Valley program.

The Cougars are off to a 4-1 start this season after Thursday’s 64-37 win in the opening round of the 41st annual Frank Godinez Basketball Tournament at Turlock High.

The win brought Hunter’s career record to 398-231, bringing him two wins shy of career win No. 400.

Hunter is aware he’s approaching a big career milestone, but says he’s been so busy with the day-to-day grind of the season, he hasn’t had much time to reflect on what it means.

“I knew where we were (coming into the season),” Hunter said. “I’m happy because it’s an achievement for everybody. Jerry has been with me all but one year. Padre (Craig McGowan) has been here since the first year. I think he had to miss one year. My wife Kellie has been supportive throughout. It’s been fun. It is something I’m very proud of.”

Every year Hunter says the goal for Golden Valley is to make the playoffs. They’ve accomplished that goal 18 of his 22 seasons, winning six CCC championships and one Sac-Joaquin Section title in 1997.

When a coach is at one place, now going on his 23rd year like Hunter, the wins are just a small part of his legacy. Think of all the lives he’s had an impact on over the years.

“He created an environment of high expectations in practice and more importantly in games,” said David Glasgow, who graduated from Golden Valley in 2000. “He was not going to settle for a lackluster effort and that included those two-hour practices every day.”

Glasgow played on a Golden Valley team that reached Arco Arena his senior year. He later received a track & field scholarship to Cal-Berkeley as a high jumper.

“The thing that sticks out to me was (Hunter) was full of passion,” Glasgow said. “He was full of passion for his team, for his players, for everything... his students, his family, golf. He had this general sense of passion for the game.

“Having a coach like Hunter made basketball more enjoyable for me. I found a little success in it and track. The passion and drive I had came from him. He really pushed me, he pushed a lot of his athletes.”

Just ask local referees about Hunter’s passion.

Over his career, Hunter has earned his share of technical fouls and an ejection here and there. This is a coach who once earned a technical after talking to a referee in the restroom at halftime.

“Part of the fun has been just sitting next to him and watching his interactions with the referees over the years,” Stillahn said. “One minute he’ll have them ticked off at him and the next minute he’ll have them laughing.”

“I think everybody has their Hunter stories,” said Golden Valley principal Kevin Swartwood. “As a principal, it makes me feel good to have Keith as a special ed teacher, which is a big part of our school. He’s a leader on campus. He’s our basketball coach. His teams are always competitive, even when they have down years. He runs his program the right way. He gets the best out of his kids.”

Swartwood made some good choices right away in picking his coaches when Golden Valley opened in 1994, bringing in Hunter, Dennis Stubbs (football), Matt Thissen (volleyball, girls basketball) and Chopper Mello (wrestling) a few years later.

“I would like to think I was a good athletic director,” Swartwood said. “I was fortunate to hire coaches like Matt Thissen, Keith Hunter and Chopper Mello. I was a head football coach for 8 years and it wore me out. I’ve got Dennis Stubbs working on 30 years.”

Hunter admits it’s not easy playing for him. He is a demanding coach.

“I believe in the principal of hard work,” Hunter said. “There’s no shortcuts to success. You can’t take a play off. I have high expectations every day. I’ve always felt practices should be a challenge every day. I’m not here to make friends. Hopefully I can be friends with these guys later in life.

“I’m not a big rules guy. We have one rule and that’s do the right thing. Commitment is equally important. That’s a big thing for me. And you have to communicate. That’s a job skill. You can’t just show up to work. You have to talk.”

Former player Chris Randle says it was easy playing for Hunter. Randle graduated from Golden Valley in 2007 and went on to play football at Utah State and has played in the Canadian Football League the past 6 years.

“You have to be able to be a team player, be coachable and be able to listen,” Randle said. “You have to be willing to make sacrifices for your teammates, taking charges, being tough. All that stuff mattered.”

One of Randle’s memories of playing for Hunter that stuck out was when they were away at a tournament and Randle got hurt.

“I may have had a concussion,” Randle said. “Coach Hunter stayed with me at the doctor’s. I think he took me out to In and Out for a burger after. It was just me and him. It showed he cared about us.”

“Basketball is sacred to him,” Stillahn said. “His respect for the game is above almost anything. Kids sense his passion and it’s contagious. He’s demanding and tough, but he’s fair and just, and they want that. He’s turned around a lot of kids’ lives with these qualities.”

How long will Hunter coach?

That’s anybody’s guess. He says he still enjoys practices. If you watch Golden Valley games you can see the fire is definitely still there.

“I always thought if I’m coaching when I’m 50 somebody ought to shoot me. Well, I’m 52 now,” Hunter said. “It’s gone by so quick. I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve been blessed. I’m grateful for the opportunity. I’ve never looked at it as a job. It’s a hobby. It’s something I do because I enjoy it.”

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 5:00 PM with the headline "The wins, titles and sideline tirades. What will 400 career wins mean to Keith Hunter?."