Zack Cook resigned from his position as the head boys coach at Napa High School in April, but he’s not done with basketball.
Cook is changing roles, as he is joining coach Paul DeBolt’s staff at Napa Valley College as an assistant for women’s basketball. Cook will continue as a full-time physical education and health teacher on the staff at Napa High and will take on additional work as an adjunct instructor in the kinesiology department at NVC.
By MARTY JAMES
martyjames.sports@gmail.com
Nicole Gleeson, a Vintage High School graduate who was the Defensive Player of the Year on the Napa Valley Register’s All-Napa County team as both a junior and senior, is one of four players who have recently committed to play basketball for the Napa Valley College women’s team, Storm head coach Paul DeBolt announced.
By MARTY JAMES
martyjames.sports@gmail.com
A shortage of players – the result a combination of injuries and those who left the program – caused Napa Valley College to cancel its 2019-20 women’s basketball season in mid-December, with the Storm having played eight games during its nonconference schedule.
Now Paul DeBolt, one of the winningest head coaches in state history and the California Community College Women’s Basketball Coaches Association State Coach of the Year during the 2000-2001 season, is doing all he can to get the team up and going again.
Due to concerns over COVID-19, the California Community College Athletics Association (CCCAA) Board of Directors voted to postpone indefinitely, practices outside of regularly scheduled classes, and competition for all spring sports and those sports in their nontraditional seasons. The CCCAA Board understands the impact this will have on our student-athletes. The CCCAA will be working to minimize those impacts when it comes to student-athlete CCCAA eligibility, as well as at the four-year college level. For more information and updates, visit the CCCAA website.
By MARTY JAMES
martyjames.sports@gmail.com
The Napa Valley College women’s basketball team got a scare the other day when Maira Montañez, a guard out of Calistoga High School, injured her knee.
“She seems to be OK and may play this weekend,” coach Paul DeBolt said Monday.
“We’re all still intact,” added DeBolt, who is in his first season with the Storm. “And we’re still at it.”
It’s the first season of women’s basketball at Napa Valley since the 2017-18 season. With just six players, the Storm went 3-21 overall, 3-13 in the Bay Valley Conference during that season.
Napa Valley was forced to cancel the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons due to not having enough players to field teams. Due to Brian Fonseca resigning as coach and not enough players forced Napa Valley to also cancel the 2018-19 season.
“We’re really starting over,” said DeBolt. “We’re playing to win basketball games. We’re competing to win basketball games.
Paul DeBolt fell in love with the game of basketball the very first time he stepped inside a gym.
He was 8 years old at the time when he took in the sights and sounds of the De Anza High School gym in El Sobrante.
“I fell in love with everything about it – being on the hardwood” DeBolt said. “I love this time of year, when it cools down outside and the days get shorter. It’s basketball season.”
DeBolt’s career in basketball has spanned several decades – starting out when he played at De Anza High, then at Contra Costa College in San Pablo and San Diego State, and continuing for many years as a coach.
“This is a time of year where it’s easy to get excited about basketball,” he said.
As the new Napa Valley College head women’s coach, DeBolt has been very active and busy since the summer, working hard to find players, assembling a roster, doing all he can to resurrect a program that was forced to cancel the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons due to not having enough players to field teams.
Zack Cook Joins NVC as Assistant Coach for Women’s Basketball
June 29, 2020Zack Cook resigned from his position as the head boys coach at Napa High School in April, but he’s not done with basketball. Cook is changing roles, as he is joining coach Paul DeBolt’s staff at Napa Valley College as an assistant for women’s basketball. Cook will continue as a full-time physical education and health teacher on the staff at Napa High and will take on additional work as an adjunct instructor in the kinesiology department at NVC.
