Gilroy – Gilroy High girls’ basketball team will have a new look at the top this year with the appointment of James Wilkins as head coach.
Wilkins was approved by the schoolboard. The announcement was made Thursday by GHS athletic director Jack Daley, who also noted that Ana Patejdl will be Wilkins’ assistant.
“He’s been an assistant with us a number of years,” Daley said of Wilkins. “We were extremely pleased with him as an assistant. He brings continuity to the program, and keeps the program headed in a positive direction. It allows us to continue with a system that the girls’ know and feel comfortable with. Additionally, he’s an outstanding human being.”
Wilkins replaces Kari Williams, who guided the Mustangs to an unbeaten Tri-County Athletic League season last year and a second-round berth in the Central California Section tournament. GHS finished 19-4.
“No one can replace her,” Wilkins said of Williams, who has moved to Columbia University as golf coach. “We have to go on. I feel we can be successful.”
Wilkins was assistant boys’ basketball coach for three seasons before taking the girls’ position last year. His daughter, Vanessa Wilkins, is one of his varsity players. As boys’ assistant coach, he was able to work with his son, Dominik, who graduated in 2006 and is a student at Sonoma State University.
“I feel really lucky and very honored to be selected to be on the (coaching) staff at Gilroy High School,” said Williams, 59, a San Jose native who has lived in Gilroy for 10 years. “I am honored that they thought enough of me to select me. I just want to live up to that honor.”
Wilkins, who played two years of basketball at Tahoe College and two years at San Diego State, was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers. He never played in the NBA, but he did play for seven years in Germany, where he met his wife, Susanna.
“You look at his background, and he was a great basketball player in Germany,” said Patejdl, who was one of the GHS head coach candidates. “He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Germany, but he’s not the type of individual who will tell you this. He’s coached a lot of the kids when they were young in the rec leagues around Gilroy. He and Kari worked well together. He loves basketball and will help the girls grow not just as players but as people.”
This is Wilkins’ first head coaching position on the school level. He currently works for Rockwell-Collins in San Jose, doing inventory. Wilkins also has a baseball background, having once tried out for a team in Spokane, Wash., when that team was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Class AAA affiliate. He also played softball in the A League for the Crackerjacks in Gilroy.
“I see a lot of talent within our group,” Wilkins said as he looked ahead to the 2006-07 season. “I am not saying we will repeat what we did last year. But I think we will be a more well-rounded ballclub.”
