St. Francis High announced this week that Robert Gomez was promoted to become the next head coach for the Sharks boys’ basketball team.
The 43-year-old Watsonville native is replacing Duncan Edwards who was at the helm for five years before stepping down after the 2023-24 season.
“[Gomez] knows the game of basketball, but maybe more importantly, he knows the type of kids we have and what makes us unique is our school size,” St. Francis Athletic Director John Ausman said. “How many of our athletes are doing multiple sports, have multiple high academic classes, he gets that. Being able to understand that, while having his players committed, consistent and competing is the important thing for us.”
Gomez is currently a physical education teacher and the middle school athletic director for Ceiba College Preparatory in Watsonville. His coaching resume is quite impressive, as well.
In 2006, he became the first head coach for the Pajaro Valley High boys’ basketball team that began without a senior class, yet still competed at the varsity level.
Gomez spent seven seasons (2006-13) at PV, building the program rather quickly going from winning two games the 2006-07 season to making the Central Coast Section playoffs the following year.
By the third season, Gomez led the Grizzlies to 20 victories for a second place finish in the now defunct Monterey Bay League, and a 37-34 win in the Division II playoffs against Los Altos High in 2009.
After receiving his teaching credential, Gomez was an assistant for two years with his brother, James, at Watsonville High. He had a two-year stint at Alisal High (2015-17) where Gomez led the Trojans girls’ basketball team to an MBL Pacific Division crown in the 2015-16 season.
Gomez was an assistant coach at Hartnell (2018-21) under Jim Rimando, who won numerous CCS titles with Seaside High, and then spent the past two seasons at St. Francis under Edwards.
“Both of those guys [Edwards and Rimando] are Army veterans and I learned so much from those guys,” Gomez said. “Not even on the court stuff, but just being around two people like that, Duncan and coach Rimando, were awesome to be around and gain experience from guys that have been coaching longer than I’ve been alive.”
The Watsonville High alum was a standout for both the Wildcatz boys’ basketball and baseball teams until he graduated in 1999.
He red-shirted with the Hartnell College men’s basketball team under hall of fame coach Frank Carbajal, who had 198 wins and guided the program to 10 consecutive postseason appearances. Gomez went on to play for longtime Cabrillo College men’s basketball coach Tony Marcopulos.
“I never got to see [Gomez] play but everyone I talked to says he was a dude,” Ausman said. “He’s seen the program over the last two years and I have nothing but the utmost respect for Duncan [Edwards]…it’s just a different voice who knows our school and hopefully can bring that excitement back in ways after a really rough season.”
The Sharks finished the 2023-24 season with a 2-22 overall record, and they went 1-13 in Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division play. They dropped back down to the Cypress Division, which St. Francis won in 2022-23.
Gomez’s vision for the program is to build a team that can compete with anybody in the league from the top to the bottom.
Gomez plans to continue using an offense he installed, which he said is super up tempo, fast pace, getting up a lot of shots and a lot of possession on the ball.
“We’re not going to beat you, we’re going to play you tough,” he said. “League titles and all those things I think will come, but I think just getting the program to the point where it’s competitive with anybody in our area.”
Becoming a head varsity coach wasn’t in the plans for Gomez. He stepped down from those responsibilities to focus on watching his daughters, Aaliyah and Aaliysah, compete while both were still in high school.
He continued as an assistant coach including in travel softball and most recently the Cabrillo College softball program.
“To tell you the truth, I kind of thought I might not get another chance to be a head coach,” he said. “It would have to be a perfect situation, and I think this just kind of fell into that category of being a perfect situation.”
