What’s happening with Canyon del Oro High School’s successful boys basketball program belies the claim that today’s young athletes must be coached by a person close to their age to relate to them better.
Hank Bias is 66 years old with a coaching background that extends to being the freshman high school basketball coach at his alma mater Finneytown High School in Cincinnati from 1979 to 1982 while he was earning a bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Cincinnati.
He moved to Arizona with the intention to retire from coaching following the 2012-13 season at Fairmont High School in Kettering, Ohio.
Three years later, after word spread that he was living in the area, Bias became the head coach at Vista Grande High School in Casa Grande. He struggled in that isolated place without a development program for young players in his six seasons (2016-22) at the school.
In his third season at CDO, he already has matched his win total of 36 games (36-30 with the Dorados) that he experienced in his six years at Vista Grande (36-101).
CDO, which does not have a senior among its top seven scorers, is off to an 11-2 start after winning three games in consecutive days in the Pima Invitational at Pima Community College’s West Gym.
“We made it to the state play-in game last year, so we’re building,” said Bias, who is in his 26th year overall as a high school varsity basketball head coach in Ohio and Arizona. “We do play our four sophomores a great deal. We have two juniors who play a great deal as well.
“What’s neat about this team is we’re young, but we’re quick. We have quick guys. Quickness is basketball in my opinion.”
The quickness starts with sophomore point guard Isaiah Gill, who leads the Dorados in steals (2.6 a game) and assists (5.0). He is also averaging 11.2 points and 3.3 rebounds a game.
Junior forward Mykael Nuñez is one of the most versatile players in Southern Arizona, leading CDO in scoring (13.6 points a game) and rebounding (7.3) while also averaging 2.4 steals, 2.3 assists and 1.3 blocks per game.
Nuñez had 17 points and seven rebounds and Gill 11 points, four rebounds and four assists in the Dorados’ 77-44 win over Douglas in the Pima Invitational championship game Saturday.
“I like how we’re able to play with more pace, be up more, play better defense, being able to pick up full court,” Gill said. “I like the intensity.”
.@CDOBasketball is 12-2 after its 77-43 victory over Douglas in the Pima Invitational championship tonight. Mykael Nuñez, a junior, and Isaiah Gill, a sophomore, are two of the Dorados’ top players. They are among CDO’s seven leading scorers who are underclassmen. Nuñez had 17… pic.twitter.com/MNp83yyxdm
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) December 22, 2024
Nuñez, 6-foot-5 and 185 pounds, is a captain of the team despite not being a senior.
He communicates with Bias often during the game, seeking input and offering his to the head coach and coaching staff.
“We’ve got to communicate; at the beginning of the season (2-2 start), we didn’t communicate,” Nuñez said. “You shoot yourself in foot. You just have to communicate. Work as a team. Talk to each other.”
Bias learned some of his coaching craft, including how to communicate effectively with players, after enlisting the help of legendary John Wooden when Bias was coaching at Fairmont before Wooden passed away in 2010.
Bias developed a friendship with former UCLA center Swen Nater, who played for Wooden from 1971 to 1973. Nater linked Bias to Wooden. The relationship grew to the point of Bias visiting Wooden and going over practice film of his teams at Fairmont. Wooden and Nater also used Bias’ team for an instructional video that was packaged with Nater’s 2006 book on Wooden’s offensive philosophies.
“Coach Wooden and I became friends the last eight years of his life,” Bias said. “We became very close friends. I have 40 hours of Coach Wooden watching my practices in Ohio with some of his former players.”
.@CDOBasketball coach Hank Bias has an extensive background of coaching going back 45 years to Ohio. Came to Arizona to retire and was talked into returning to coaching. He coached six years at Vista Grande High School in Casa Grande before starting his tenure at CDO in 2022-23.… pic.twitter.com/Wdzu1hMlip
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) December 22, 2024
Bias has coaching basketball in college in his background as well as being a highly accomplished boys soccer coach at Fairmont before concluding as a basketball coach at the school in 2013.
He coached five years from 1982 to 1987 at Northern Kentucky, including two years as a graduate assistant and three as a top assistant.
He did not coach basketball from 1994 to 2001, instead leading Fairmont’s soccer program to a district championship during that time.
One of his former basketball players at Fairmont — Lamar Skeeter — is an assistant coach with the Charlotte Hornets.
“I’m pretty proud of my former guys,” Bias said. “These guys (CDO) don’t know they are part of a huge fraternity of guys. I just went back to a reunion (at Fairmont) this past summer. I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed that.
“I’m so thankful and blessed to get to do what I’m still doing.”
Bias has taken on many rebuilding projects and difficult situations because of enrollment and basketball development throughout his coaching career, accumulating 248 victories in his 26 years as head coach of the varsity programs at North Bend (Ohio) Taylor High School, Yellow Springs (Ohio) High School, Fairmont, Vista Grande and CDO.
He said that contrary to popular belief, student-athletes have not changed since he started in the coaching profession 45 years ago.
“People say that kids have changed and times have changed; no, they haven’t,” Bias said. “Kids are just the same they always were. They want to be on a team that takes it seriously but has some fun with a coach who cares and teaches them how to play.
“Our guys have fun. They take it seriously and enjoy each other. … We don’t allow them to say mean things about each other or criticize each other. The coaches can correct, but we want the players to encourage each other.”
PIMA AZTEC CLASSIC
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19
Range View (CO) 65, Sahuaro 55
Flowing Wells 67, Santa Rita 40
Douglas 83, Kofa 60
Tucson 61, AZ College Prep 28
Canyon del Oro 55, Gregory School 32
Buena 62, Pusch Ridge 49
Crimson 54, Amphitheater 46
Palo Verde 61, Ironwood Ridge 51
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20
Gregory School 74, Amphitheater 58
Kofa 47, Santa Rita 42
Ironwood Ridge 65, Pusch Ridge 62
Sahuaro 64, AZ College Prep 51
Canyon del Oro 56, Crismon 38
Douglas 72, Flowing Wells 50
Buena 81, Palo Verde 72
Range View (CO) 65, Tucson 43
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21
Amphitheater 58, Santa Rita 23
Gregory School 62, Kofa 41
Pusch Ridge 77, AZ College Prep 45
Sahuaro 67, Ironwood Ridge 39
Crismon 55, Flowing Wells 45
Palo Verde 56, Tucson 53
PIMA CHAMPIONSHIP
Canyon del Oro 77, Douglas 43
AZTEC CHAMPIONSHIP
Range View (CO) 65, Buena 33
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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