Who is that animated man who has spent eight years prowling the Panthers’ sidelines? His name is David Beckerman, but you can call him Coach B. I was lucky enough to interview Coach B recently.

After founding a successful sports apparel company called Starter, Coach B was able to make the transition to basketball coach by simply “managing his time,” something he has always been skilled at doing. His previous stop before Pine Crest was Hamden Hall in Connecticut, where he won 8 state championships, including 6 in a row. He gained knowledge of the game through many years of playing, both in high school and college. Coach B wanted to coach high school basketball because he believes “coaching is like managing, helping and guiding people.” He has done just that with tremendous success here at Pine Crest with back-to-back state championships in 4 consecutive final four appearances and 6 consecutive years of 23 or more wins. In Coach B’s view, at PC, he has “built a basketball tradition.” Coach B’s influences include his parents, “whose work ethic always influenced him.” and a mixture of John Wooden and Bob Knight because, “they both always had their players at heart.” Coach B stresses that he wants his players to be the best that they can be on the court and in the classroom. By following this philosophy, he has amassed a career record of 432 wins against 103 losses.

The biggest enjoyment for Coach B (besides competing for championships) is the relationships he forms with players.  He has attended player’s weddings, regularly talks to them, and watches them grow. He has been able to maintain relationships with players including Jeff Pelage (Boston University), Ed Waite (Monmouth College), Brandon Reese (Syracuse) and Brandon Knight (Detroit Pistons). Coach B arrives at school every day at 3:30, but when he isn’t coaching basketball he enjoys “normal and less stressful things” such as reading and playing golf. On the sidelines Coach B focuses on “the intensity of players,” making sure they don’t lose focus, and sometimes gets in their face. He also wants to make sure that players understand their role on offense and believes “defense comes first.” That vibrant coaching style even got him thrown out of a game, many years ago.

Now two years removed from the departure of Brandon Knight and an unprecedented run of wins, I asked Coach B to give me a little insight of how he encouraged Brandon to attend Pine Crest as an eighth grader, when he first witnessed how special of a player Brandon really was. After being told that he wasn’t being challenged at his old school, Coach B simply told Brandon “If you come to Pine Crest, you won’t be the smartest kid in school,” and the rest is history.

This season the Panthers are 17-6 with 4 of their losses by a combined total of 5 points. Coach B sees this season as a “learning experience.