Just anybody can’t take over for the only boys basketball coach a school has known, especially one as successful as Gary Childress was in 16 seasons at Grandview.
The Wolves needed a quality coach to take over for Childress, who stepped down in March, and they certainly found one.
On Saturday, the school announced the hire of former Arapahoe coach Dan Snyder — one of the most successful coaches in the Centennial League over the past six seasons — to take over one of Aurora’s most consistently strong programs.
“I’m excited; it’s a new and different opportunity and that was really the reason I was interested,” Snyder said via phone shortly after the announcement.
“I was very happy at Arapahoe and we’ve been very successful over there for a long time,” he added. “I just had my meeting with the Arapahoe players and that was really difficult. I’m certainly going to miss them, but excited for something new and different.”
A number of quality local candidates were in the hunt for the job, but from the start it was Snyder who stood out.
He coached at Arapahoe for the past eight seasons since taking over for Tim Hammond in 2006-07 and guided the Warriors to at least the Great 8 round of the Class 5A state playoffs in six straight seasons, including a run to the state championship game in 2011-12 when they lost by two points on a memorable tip-in at the buzzer by Chaparral’s Josh Adams.
Arapahoe moved from the Continental League to the Centennial League after two seasons and in his six seasons in the league, Snyder has amassed a stunning 66-18 (.786 win percentage) record in league play, including a 14-0 mark in the 2011-12 season, part of a three-year run in which the Warriors went 40-2 against conference foes and claimed three league titles.
In those six seasons, Snyder’s team won at least two games in the playoffs every season and he’s 16-6 in the postseason in that stretch.
“First and foremost, it comes down to players and players buying into your system and we’ve had that at Arapahoe,” Snyder said. “For us, it certainly hasn’t been a fluke that we’re the only school in the state that went to the Elite 8 for six straight seasons. You have to be a little bit lucky in some of these games, but we’ve developed and built a program that the players buy into and that leads to sustained success.”
In general, Snyder favors an uptempo style of play on both offense and defense, but wherever he has coached, he’s adapted the system he uses to his personnel. He will meet with players at Grandview in the coming weeks to get a better feel for their strengths.
Grandview is thrilled to have Snyder on its sideline, as the Wolves managed to beat his Arapahoe team just one time in the 12 meetings over the past six seasons.
“Dan…brings extensive experience and success to GHS,” Grandview athletic director Jamee Ulitzky said in an email announcement.
“We look forward to the future of boys basketball under the leadership of Coach Snyder.”
Needless to say, there are big shoes to fill with the departure of Childress, who led the Wolves to a 216-165 overall record and took them to the 5A Final Four three times.
Grandview finished 15-10 in the past season and took fourth in the Centennial League, one spot behind Snyder’s Arapahoe team. The Wolves graduate nine seniors, but expect to return two players with starting experience in juniors Andrew Joiner and Jarred Burr.
“One of the things I’m proudest of is that I’m leaving it to where it is a super attractive job,” Childress said after he stepped down.
Snyder said he had “great respect” for Childress in the six seasons coaching head-to-head against him twice a season and is glad to remain in the Centennial League, where he’ll get to go against a group of coaches he also reveres.
“I have great respect for the coaches in the Centennial League; what John Olander has done at Eaglecrest, Keenon Clement did a great job at Smoky Hill this year, Morgan Gregory at Cherokee Trail did well and obviously Danny Fisher at Overland had great success; it just goes on and on,” said Snyder, who was actually hired as an assistant coach at Heritage by current Cherry Creek head coach Mike Brookhart.
Notes: Before coaching at Arapahoe, Snyder served as an assistant coach at Metro State for a year after a four-year stint as an assistant at Heritage High School.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
DAN SNYDER’S COACHING RECORD AT ARAPAHOE
2013-14: 20-6 overall (9-5 in Centennial League) — lost to Fossil Ridge in 5A Great 8; 2012-13: 19-8 overall (8-6 in Centennial League) — lost to Denver East in 5A Great 8; 2011-12: 25-3 overall (14-0 in Centennial League) — lost to Chaparral in 5A state championship game; 2010-11: 25-2 overall (13-1 in Centennial League) — lost to Regis Jesuit in 5A semifinals; 2009-10: 22-4 overall (13-1 in Centennial League) — Lost to Regis Jesuit in 5A Great 8; 2008-09: 17-9 overall (9-5 in Centennial League) — Lost to George Washington in 5A Great 8; 2007-08: 18-6 overall (8-4 in Continental League) — Lost in 1st round of 5A playoffs; 2006-07: 19-5 overall (9-3 in Continental League) — Lost in 2nd round of 5A state playoffs
