Welcome back for new basketball coach Sam Manu

With the coming of a new basketball season, Aragon has hired Sam Manu as the new varsity boy’s basketball coach. Manu, an Aragon graduate of ‘83, has a well-decorated basketball career and was once on Aragon’s varsity basketball team as a student.

“I don’t know what it is about high school years, but whether good or bad, you always remember them,” says Manu. “[When I played on Varsity, I] never remembered the wins or losses…I remembered the close relationships and friends.”

Manu’s extensive career in basketball continued after high school at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he was a walk-on player for their basketball team while working on his degree in computer science engineering.

Manu reminisces about his college experience, saying, “That was more of an accomplishment for me to know that I could play at that level. That was a great experience because Cal Poly is just a great school”

In 2002, after working as a computer engineer for a period of time, Manu began coaching the Tonga National Basketball Team.

“In America…there’re gyms everywhere. You can go to the [YMCA], you can go to the [24 Hour Fitness], whereas in Tonga, there’s only one gym,” Manu explains. “You really don’t want to play outside, because of the sweltering humidity…so when you come out here, it’s really nice.”

Manu eventually came back to California and began coaching basketball at Borel Middle School and assistant coaching the Aragon varsity basketball team. At the time, he worked with the heavyweights.

“My role was to really help the big guys play well,” Manu recalls. “That was a great experience because, you know, these guys were beefy guys for football players, and they played super for me and for [the varsity basketball coach of the time], Coach Huxford.”

Looking to the current season, he adds, “I’m excited about this team. I think we have a lot of potential, and my job is to help them fulfill that potential”

Speaking after the Nov. 30 loss to Lowell High, Manu comments, “What describes the team? Work ethic. These kids here, they just finished the game [and] they lost. A lot of them are going to the [YMCA] right now to shoot. We have a saying on the team: ‘you do what you have to do to do what you want to do.’”

Regarding his coaching strategy, Manu says, “My goal is never winning; it’s really giving a winning effort … If you just focus on winning, it can compromise yourself and you can develop really losing habits for basketball and for life.”

“He’s a good teacher,” says junior David Manoa. “He’ll correct us when we’re doing something wrong, and he’ll praise us when we’re doing good.”

Junior Tavanuku Etu adds, “He has that bond between coach and player. He knows your weakness, and he tries to help you out a lot.”

Junior Trevor Lahoz considers the season he, his teammates, and his coach are well into, saying, “We have the potential to do [well]. We have a lot of players that have the skill and talent. As a team we need to develop more chemistry on the court.”

“I like him; he’s a really good coach,” says junior Nick Frankel. “I feel like we’re going to do a lot better than we did last year.”

“I’m partial [to Aragon],” Manu laughs. “I’ll coach [here] as long as they’ll let me.”