Walk into the gymnasium of San Jose’s Quimby Oak Middle School and you will smile in disbelief. “Go ahead and pass your test to the front of the room,” you hear from the rich baritone of Dean Askanas. After wrapping up the test on football’s rules – this is P.E. class, after all – the 7th- and 8th-graders quickly take the floor for pre-scrimmage calisthenics. The voice echoes through the room as the students follow Askanas’ direction through a round of push-ups: “Down, one, down, two, down, three, down, four. …”
Step outside to the playground at lunchtime and see Michael Luna holding court with a sea of hoops-happy kids. All the rage at Quimby, the Luna-directed 3-on-3 basketball tournament is just under way. Students and teachers amble by, eager to catch a glimpse of the action.
As surprising as it was at first, you nod and smile to yourself. It makes sense. Far removed from the volleyball court and baseball diamond in Hollister, Askanas and Luna are nonetheless completely at home. Their other home.
THE DAY JOB
Long before they ever joined the ranks of San Benito High School’s athletic department, Askanas and Luna became teachers at Quimby Oak Middle School. With Luna splitting time between math and P.E., and Askanas devoting his full attention to teaching P.E., they have now hit the 15-year mark at the Evergreen School District institution.
Though their days often end far into the evening after practice in Hollister or contests at venues across the Central Coast Section, the two arrive at Quimby before the 8am bell starts the school day.
With Luna joining Askanas in teaching P.E. full-time this school year for the first time, they both have five periods of co-ed recreational instruction. The current three-week block has Luna educating students on the finer points of court hockey, while Askanas runs the football unit. Other sports they delve into throughout the academic year include volleyball, soccer, ultimate frisbee, bowling, badminton, basketball, softball and pickle ball. “Michael does a lot of square dancing, ballroom dancing,” Askanas joked. “I don’t do all that. He does yoga and pilates.”
Luna does, however, miss his traditional classroom responsibilities – the advanced math classes of algebra and geometry – but reasons that “the advantage is a lot less paperwork.”
With the 3-on-3 basketball tournament that includes 32 teams and nearly 125 players tipping off Monday, Luna even has his hands full on his lunch hour. “It just says he has a strong commitment to students in a complete way,” Quimby Oak principal Philip Bond said in admiration, “not just academics. I love that he’s doing it. He’s giving up his lunchtime. That’s duty-free lunch.”
THE TRUE PASSION
While Luna and Askanas profess to enjoy their day jobs, they leave no doubt as to what ultimately drives them – their head-coaching positions for the baseball and girls’ volleyball programs, respectively, at San Benito High.
“The coaching is on my mind 24/7,” Askanas said. “I’m completely consumed with it and how to get better.”
Added Luna: “Without any question, coaching baseball has always been my passion. I’ll be doing that the rest of my life.”
And after a handful of stops for both San Jose residents, Hollister is now the hub of their endeavors. Luna, who won a CCS title at Leigh High in 2000, has led San Benito’s varsity baseball team to a 45-14 record and one TCAL championship in two seasons. And midway through his second season at the helm of ‘Baler volleyball, Askanas has yet to lose a TCAL match, winning a league title and taking San Benito to within a few agonizing points of a section championship last year.
“Just the fact that they’re two of the best coaches in their respective sports and they’re willing to make a 40-minute drive, we’re very fortunate,” San Benito athletic director Tod Thatcher said.
HOLLISTER’S ALLURE
So what is it about Hollister? What’s so alluring about coaching at San Benito that made Askanas and Luna leave their posts at Leigh one year apart after many years of excelling in South Bay programs?
“Part of it is the town that has one high school, the closeness of that community and the amount of support they give all their sports, not just baseball. Those athletes, they’re different,” explained Luna, who plied his trade as a graduate assistant at Cal State–Fullerton and as an assistant coach at West Valley College, in addition to head-coaching stops at Gilroy and Overfelt High Schools. “They have a different type of passion and work ethic for the game.”
After a decade of coaching at Mt. Pleasant and Leigh, taking the latter to its first-ever league championship to garner Blossom Valley Athletic League Coach of the Year honors in 2004, Askanas had an offer in hand to become an assistant coach at San Jose City College. But instead, he picked the ‘Balers, calling the girls’ volleyball post a “prestigious position and a great opportunity. I looked at this as a bigger stepping stone than going to the JC level.”
The man who hired them at Quimby 15 years ago said that once Luna and Askanas had the possibility of joining the San Benito program, the decision made perfect sense. “Michael and Dean both made the same decision – they followed the talent,” said Bond, the Quimby principal. “They both saw San Benito as a gold mine of talent, not only now but in the youth system. … They’re always excited about San Benito. They’re pumped every single day.”
Added Thatcher, the ‘Baler athletic director: “I think we’ve got great talent, but if you put a great coach at the helm, I think you get great dividends. I think it’s going to continue to produce great teams.”
Askanas, 42, who also coaches volleyball for the Quimby combined girls’ team and a club team at Santa Clara’s City Beach in the winter, left no bones about the hierarchy of his teams. “High school is my No. 1 passion,” said Askanas, who takes a record of 56-10 at San Benito into the ‘Balers’ Thursday match at Gilroy. “That’s where I put all the eggs, what’s most important to me. I take the most pride in the high school team.”
RESPECT AND ADMIRATION
After their years teaching and coaching together at Quimby – Luna has also run the school’s basketball team – and serving on the same athletic department staffs at Leigh and San Benito, Askanas and Luna have developed a friendship that brings them together on the golf course, at the card table and occasionally on vacations.
Back in their first year of teaching, they even team-taught a basic math class, but that experiment quickly came to a halt. “He used to tell me the students would correct him,” Luna said.
Added Askanas: “There are still kids who are screwed up from that. They’re in their early 30s or whatever and they still can’t balance their checkbook.”
But when it comes to their coaching, in particular, they have a strong mutual admiration. They constantly talk coaching at Quimby, comparing notes on practice strategy, player motivation and game management.
“We’re always sharing ideas. He’s just as intense a competitor as I am,” said Luna, 50. “Everywhere he’s gone, he’s had so much success.”
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, both at San Benito and at Quimby,” Askanas said. “He’s a good role model for me. He carries himself very well.”
Although one fields his team in the spring and the other hits peak season in the fall, they find themselves bound in the coaching ranks once again, looking to lead the ‘Balers to unprecedented heights.
“If he were to coach baseball and I were to coach volleyball, the intensity and the focus and the commitment would still be there,” Luna said.
“It’s almost 24/7 for both of us.”
