Coaching changes for area high school basketball teams

Two coaching changes at high-profile Santa Rosa boys high school basketball teams are afoot - one expected and one a surprise.

Coaching legend Tom Bonfigli, who confirmed Friday he was leaving Cardinal Newman after three decades as a teacher and coach there, is the new boys basketball coach at another local Catholic school - the smaller St. Vincent de Paul in Petaluma.

A potential break with Newman had been percolating for weeks, but none involved were ready to confirm his hiring at St. Vincent until after Bonfigli officially informed Newman he was leaving.

The move adds another top coach in the stable at St. Vincent, which is moving up to the North Bay League from the much smaller North Central League II in most sports.

Another coaching move was more unexpected.

Zac Tiedeman, part of a multigenerational basketball family at Montgomery, has resigned after five seasons at the Vikings’ helm.

Tiedeman has a young family and wanted to spend more time with them, Montgomery Athletic Director Dean Haskins said.

“He’s trying to balance, how can I commit to doing how I think the varsity basketball program should be done and raise my daughter,” he said. “That was his motivation behind it. He was not unhappy at all.”

Matching Tiedeman’s pedigree will be difficult.

“It’s a big hit for us,” Haskins said. “He is one of the top coaches in our athletic department and in my opinion, the best basketball coach in Sonoma County.”

Tiedeman was a member of the 2003 and 2006 Montgomery teams that captured North Coast Section Division 2 titles. In ’06, his senior year, he was named All-Empire Large School Player of the Year.

At age 27, in 2015, he fulfilled a dream to become the varsity coach at his alma mater. He took over from his former coach, Tom Fitchie, who retired after 31 years as the head man.

Tiedeman’s father, Steve, was a star and teammate of Fitchie’s at Montgomery and Sonoma State, while his older brother, Tyler, excelled during his career as a Viking and went on to play pro basketball in Europe.

Haskins said the search is on for another coach with the same mentality as both Fitchie and Tiedeman.

“We’ve only had two coaches in 47 years. The culture, and what they have established in the standard of play, is something I really want to continue,” he said. “The sharing of the basketball, the team-first mentality. Whoever the next person is has to have that instilled.”

Tiedeman led the Vikings to winning seasons in each of his five years, totaling a 97-52 overall record. The Vikings made the NBL tournament championship game three times, the North Coast Section playoffs all five years and advanced to two NorCal regional playoff tournaments.

Meanwhile, Bonfigli will take his lengthy list of career accolades south to a new setting, at a school that has been up and coming athletically.

The Mustangs hired former Casa Grande football coach Trent Herzog in 2018 and its program has improved from 1-8 the year before he took over to 6-5 last year and 9-2 this season.

St. Vincent has also brought in Tony Keefer, a Cardinal Newman quarterback and a two-time All-American at Santa Rosa Junior College who was head football coach at Montgomery in 2018 before resigning to spend more time with his family business.

Keefer will serve as girls basketball coach, as an athletic administrator and will direct the school’s summer sports camps.

“Basketball has always been my favorite sport, even going back to high school when I played,” he said.

He has learned from his good friend, former Windsor boys basketball coach Travis Taylor, and has assisted with the teams of his own 11- and 8-year-old girls.

“I figured it was time to make the jump,” he said.

The additions give St. Vincent additional coaching experience as its heads into a tougher league against much larger schools.

Bonfigli is one of the most experienced of all. Keefer’s father went to school with Bonfigli, and the elder coach said Keefer was one reason he was excited to join St. Vincent.

One of California’s top 10 all-time winningest basketball coaches, Bonfigli confirmed Friday he was leaving Newman after 31 years teaching and coaching at the north Santa Rosa private Catholic school.

The coach said he felt undermined by coworkers and that the situation had become unhealthy. Last month, school administrators sought changes in how he ran the program. Bonfigli said in a statement that there was a lack of trust and transparency in the administration at Newman.

His 30-year friendship with St. Vincent principal Pat Daly made the school attractive, he said.

“I trust him, I think he’s honest, I think he has real positive energy,” Bonfigli said. “I think he’s going to build something big there.”

Bonfigli won 591 games at Cardinal Newman and 16 NBL championships. He has won 816 games, eighth best in California history. His teams won 92 games in the past four years, losing 26.

Monday, Bonfigli had turned the page on coaching at Newman and said he was eager to get started building a strong Mustangs program.

“It’s a good feeling,” he said. “I think it’s going to work out well for me and very well for them. Their basketball program hasn’t had a lot of success. You don’t turn it around in couple weeks or months. It’s going to be a process.

“It will take a while to have my philosophy settle in there. To have a really good program, there’s a culture I have to instill. I expect we’re going to improve and we’re going to be successful.”

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.