It’s a good thing that Dan DeRose likes a challenge, because that’s exactly what he’s facing as he takes over the Carlynton boys basketball program.
DeRose, who enjoyed success at several previous stops during his lengthy coaching career, was hired less than a month ago for the Carlynton job, so he’s been working double time to put his program together in time for Tuesday night’s season opener at home against Steel Valley.
“I knew I’d be walking into a tough situation, knowing I only had a month before the first game and didn’t have any time with my kids,” he said, recalling the questions he asked himself as he considered whether to accept the offer to coach the Cougars.
As one might expect, it’s been a bit of a struggle in the early going, but DeRose said his players are starting to come around. One of the biggest hurdles, he said, was trying to change the culture of the program, which he termed as “not the greatest.”
“The first day of practice only nine kids showed up when there was supposed to be 18 or 19,” he said. “That was the mentality. The kids thought they could come and go in practice whenever they wanted to.”
DeRose said those are the types of things that a coach can iron out if he or she is hired in the summer. He hasn’t had that luxury, but he can see things starting to change.
“Slowly but surely we’re getting them to change their mindset,” he said. “Some kids weren’t able to do that, and they’re no longer on the team. And those are kids who would have contributed. But that’s the tone I’m trying to set if we’re going to have a successful season and a successful program.”
DeRose is no stranger to taking over a program that needed a change. After coaching in the college ranks for 15 years at places like Penn State Greater Allegheny, Community College of Beaver County and Chowan University in North Carolina, DeRose took a job at South Park High School in 2014. The team had 15 straight losing seasons prior to his arrival, but his squad went 16-6 and reached the WPIAL quarterfinals before losing.
DeRose left South Park after one season for a job at Penn Hills, taking over a program that had gone 48-102 and missed the playoffs each year in its previous seven seasons. In the five years that DeRose coached there, the Indians went 100-25 and won their section four of the five seasons. He also coached Penn Hills to the WPIAL title in 2018 and was a three-time coach of the year.
DeRose parlayed that into a job at North Allegheny, which hadn’t won a section title in 15 years. He put an end to that streak in one season, but an altercation during a playoff game led to his departure, and he spent the last three seasons out of coaching at the high school level, although he did stay busy coaching AAU teams.
Last year’s Carlynton team broke even in WPIAL Class 1A Section 1 play at 5-5 but went 9-16 overall. This year, the Cougars will be jumping up to Class 3A and playing in Section 2 with Bishop Canevin, Sto-Rox, Keystone Oaks, McGuffey and Washington. “I’m not sure how that happened,” DeRose said of the classification jump.
This year’s squad will be led by Devonte Dean, a 6-foot guard who’s just rounding into basketball shape after an outstanding season at quarterback for the Cougars football team. “He’s a very strong guard who does some good things,” DeRose said of Dean. “We’re leaning on him.”
Others who figure to contribute include Mark Jameson, a 6-2 forward, and Michael Jenkins, a junior guard who didn’t see a lot of playing time last year. Newcomer Damon Holloway, an athletic 6-3 forward, has plenty of raw skills. “Once he figures some things out, he can be very important to us,” DeRose said. Also expected to compete for playing time are two players returning from knee injuries – Julian Torres and Ryan Lewis.
“Somehow,” DeRose said, “we have to tread water until we get to January.”
DeRose admits that philosophy runs counter to what he believes in a normal coaching situation.
“A lot of coaches talk about wanting to peak at the right time, but I’ve always been a guy who says, ‘Screw that,’” DeRose said. “I want to peak the first game of the year. I don’t want to lose games that I felt I shouldn’t lose because we hadn’t peaked or we weren’t ready. But I have to take a different approach this year. In the past, I was the type who wanted to have everything in by the first game. We needed to be ready to go out and play anybody. But I can’t have that mentality this year. I have to learn how to be a little more patient. And I realize it’s going to be a struggle early. We have to make the best of it and have them ready by the first part of January.”
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