Dave Bregante, who guided Santa Barbara High’s boys basketball team to a CIF-Southern Section championship, four semifinal appearances and four state tournament berths, is stepping down.
“I’ll be 76 in August. I’ve had my run,” Bregante told Noozhawk. “It’s somebody else’s time to take a shot at it.”
Bregante guided the Dons for eight seasons, winning 172 games and losing just 55 for a .758 winning percentage. His teams made the playoffs every year except one — the 2017-18 season, which was marred by the Thomas Fire and the horrific mudslides in Montecito.
Just two seasons earlier, Bregante guided Santa Barbara to the CIF-SS 2A Division title at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The Dons beat Lynwood, 75-65. They reached the 2A semifinals in 2014-15 and the 3A semifinals in 2013-14.
“Winning CIF has to be the highlight of my career. I don’t know how you can top that,” said Bregante
This past season, his Dons lost in the 3A semifinals.
That team’s success surprised him because the players didn’t get much experience during the shortened 17-18 season.
“I really thought that was going to hurt us this year because we had no experience at all,” he said. “We lost so many games, lost so much time playing together.
“I’m surpised we did as well we did this year. It’s really amazing.”
After retiring from the Oxnard Union High School District, Bregante returned to his alma mater to coach the freshman basketball team.
“Joe was on the freshman team and Jeff Lavender (the varsity coach) asked if I’d be interested in coaching the team and have the chance to coach Joe,” Bregante recalled. “I thought it’d be great to coach my son.”
He coached Joe on the frosh-soph team the following year.
There was a shakeup in the varsity program before the start of the 2011-12 season and Bregante was asked by the school administration if he would step in and coach just days before the first game.
“They asked if I’d do it,” he said. “Some of those kids I already had as freshmen and sophomores, so I kind of felt a responsibility to see it through the season. I figured I’d give it a shot and the rest is history.”
Said SBHS Athletic Director Joe Chenoweth: “He truly cares about his players success, on the court and in the classroom. Coach Bregante set a very high bar for the next person. I will miss his presence on the hardwood.”
Bregante and his staff turned the basketball program around at Santa Barbara. Players liked his up-tempo style and the green light to shoot three-pointers.
It also helped he had some special players in the program.
“I don’t care how good of coach you are, you got to have some players,” he said. “The secret is to get those guys and get them to play together, play hard and play smart and good things will happen.”
When Bregante took over as the varsity coach in 2011, the program was at rock bottom. It won just three games in the previous two seasons.
The Dons went 13-12 in his first season (2011-12), finished tied for second in the Channel League and earned a CIF playoff berth in the 3AAA Division. They lost in the first round.
Santa Barbara went 20-5 and won the Channel League the next season, beginning a four-year run as league champions. They lost only one league game between 2013 and 2016.
Santa Barbara boys basketball was a Bregante family affair, with son, Joseph, serving as an assistant coach, daughter, Lia, filming home games and wife, Davie, handling the scorebook.
“It’s real blessing,” he said. “All four of us were involved.”
Said Joe: “The records and awards are great, but my best memories over the past eight seasons of coaching at SBHS will be the relationships with the players,” Joe Bregante said in an email. “We are blessed that they were able to call us ‘Coach.’”
Dave Bregante said all the time and work it takes to run a program convinced him it was time to step down.
“People don’t realize how much time it takes to run a program. I’m not just responsible for the varsity, I got the JV team, the frosh-soph team … it never ends. A couple weeks ago, I’m spending hours trying to make schedules for next year, trying to get a schedule for a few games this spring, trying to get a schedule for the summer, for the fall.
“It got to the point where it’s not fair to my wife.”
He said the new coach will have a good group of players next season. Among the returnees are point guard Stephen Davis and center Bryce Warrecker, the Channel League co-MVPs.
“One thing I’m proud of, I think I left the program in good shape,” he said “They’re going to have a good team next year. You got two kids coming back that were co-MVPs of the league. Bryce is going to be a really good player and Stephen is getting better all the time.
“I didn’t leave the cupboard bare. I didn’t want people to think I left because I wasn’t going to have a good team.”
Some of the records and accomplishments of Santa Barbara High boys basketball in the eight years Dave Bregante served as head coach:
-3 Straight CIF Semifinals (School Record, County Record)
-4 CIF Semifinal appearances in 8 years (School Record, County Record)
-4 Straight Channel League Championships (School Record)
-Most points scored in a single game (School Record)
-Highest per game scoring average for a whole season (School Record)
-Most total points scored in season (School Record, County Record)
-Most 3-pointers made in a single game (School Record, County Record)
-5 Championships in an 8 year span ( Tied School Record)
-Most League Games won over an 8 years span (School Record)
-Most Consecutive Channel League Victories (School Record)
-Longest time period between Channel League losses (School Record)
-Streak of 39 wins in 40 league contests (School Record)
-Most Channel League MVPs in an 8 year span (School Record)
-Most All-Channel League 1st Team Selections over an 8 year span (School Record, League Record)
-Most All-Channel League 2nd Team Selections over an 8 year span (School Record, League Record)
-Most Channel League Coach of the Year Awards over an 8 year span (School Record, League Record)
-2016 CIF State Coach of the Year (1st in School History)
-Most CIF State Playoff games won over an 8 year span (4) (School Record, County Record)
-Most tournaments won in a single season (School Record)
-Most games won in a single season (School Record)