At Saint Mary’s Catholic High School, tradition is important. The school has been open for over 100 years and is the oldest Catholic school in the state of Arizona. With that comes a huge alumni base and big expectations for the athletic programs.

Two new head coaches in particular are looking to get back to Saint Mary’s winning ways while also re-establishing tradition.

In 2017 the Saint Mary’s Knights hired Damin Lopez to be their head basketball coach. In the early 2000s he was an assistant coach to his father, David Lopez. They led the Knights to multiple championship title runs behind the likes of future NBA players Channing Frye and Jerryd Bayless.

Damin is still using the same philosophy that his father used to create a winning program.

“Our philosophy has been pretty much the same throughout, which has been focused on player development, both on and off the floor,” Damin said. “We always felt like if we could maximize player development, that the winning would take care of itself. That was kind of our thought when my pop was here too.”

While some may think that a private school such as Saint Mary’s would have a hard time attracting athletic talent due to its small school size and tuition costs, Lopez thinks that being a private religious school is actually what convinces these athletes and parents that Saint Mary’s is for them.

“There’s always something that’s missing,” Lopez said. “If they transfer or if they come to us as freshmen, they see something in Saint Mary’s that they think will help them, whether it’s basketball, academics or spirituality, or what I would like to think is the entire package.”

Lopez has led his team to the playoffs in each of his first two years as head coach, losing in the quarterfinals last year. This year, many are expecting the Knights to make that jump to championship contenders due to the young talent he has been developing in Orlando Gonzales, Jacob Estrella and Garrison Phelpsand transfers such as Jeremiah Cherry.

As for baseball, just this year Saint Mary’s hired Chris Rideau to be its new head coach. Rideau played for and graduated from Saint Mary’s and has worked there for the last 16 years as an employee. He has been on a Knights baseball or football coaching staff for the last 30 years.

According to Rideau, being at Saint Mary’s for so long has helped him pick up some valuable lessons that will help him become a successful coach.

“The experiences I’ve had with being around the school for so long and actually playing for Coach [Jim] Sandford, playing for Coach [Pat] Farrell, learning from two of the best teachers not only in the classroom, but also on the field is going to help me tremendously,” Rideau said. “I think I’ve been around with Coach (Jim) Sandford and Coach (Pat) Farrell to where they instilled that winning in me.”

Rideau believes that the work the administration is doing in hiring these coaches with prior Saint Mary’s experience is doing wonders for their sports programs.

“When I personally try to coach a player, I try to make them understand that Saint Mary’s is a very small school, but it’s got a huge community,” Rideau said. “For a school of less than 700 students, after being around for 100 years, it’s such a beautiful thing to be able to have that recognition and that identity, and I think that helps when having new parents.”

The ultimate bridge between both of these sports and coaches is senior Jaxon Rideau, Chris Rideau’s grandson. He plays varsity basketball and baseball and also acknowledged the importance of hiring someone that the Saint Mary’s community will recognize.

When Lopez was hired Jaxon’s sophomore year, Jaxon was eager to get started because he knew what Lopez was going to bring to the table. Now, while playing for Lopez over the past two years, Jaxon said that Lopez is trying to bring back that old-school style of play that made him and his father successful.

“Coach Lopez has always liked to play fast, and he wants us to get back to that," Jaxon said. “His old teams would just get the ball and go. He wants that type of offense. To go up and down, score, press and just play as quick as possible.”

On the baseball field, Jaxon is confident that his grandpa will be able to bring the type of success that the Saint Mary’s community is accustomed to. He believes that, similar to the basketball program, it may take two to three years to get going, but after that they will never look back.

“[Chris Rideau] knows so much about Saint Mary’s and he has a great relationship with the kids,” Jaxon said. “[He] just knows how to talk to them and get them going. I think that’s really helping the baseball program right now. A lot of people are excited."