St. Mary's High School has been known for their basketball program in the state of Arizona for many years, as the school has had one of the most historic programs in the state - producing such high quality NBA veterans as Jerryd Bayless and Channing Frye. While the program has had an historic past, the program lost it's luster over the years, as enrollment decreased and the program saw a shortage of serious basketball talent at the school. As a result, the school would take on a much different look from year's past, when it produced loads of college talent. Instead, the program would struggle to win ball games, and become a non-factor to compete for state titles, previously won by the program.
Three years ago, the school decided to turn the reigns over to former St. Mary's longtime assistant coach Damin Lopez, in an effort to restore the school and the basketball program. Lopez previously spent an amazing (12) seasons at St. Mary's, while assisting his father David Lopez, and developing the program into one of the premier programs in the West. In the (12) seasons that Damin was part of the St. Mary's staff, the school won the state title in 2001 and was part of (5) Final Fours and (9) Elite Eights.
After extreme hard work and dedication to the program, this season Lopez led his Knights back to the top of the state - winning this year's 4A State Championship. Arizona Preps caught up with Coach Lopez during the high school season for this amazing interview . . .
