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“Anything I can do to help the team,” Newell recalled Warmerdam saying as he flashed a smile. Newell said he caught Warmerdam adjusting the thermostat ahead of one of their games. “It was freaking hot in there,” Walters said. Eventually, they were so well-conditioned, opponents couldn’t keep pace. His teams never stepped foot in the weight room, but they ran in their heated gym until they dropped. Warmerdam turned up the thermostat in the gymnasium for practice and games.
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The Mariners’ games were the hottest show in town, quite literally. The coverage and his teams’ success helped fill the bleachers on game night. He believed having his players’ pictures and names in the paper would inspire them to play better and give them confidence. One of the points was “positive media relations.” The Mariners coach befriended local media. Warmerdam created a “15-point plan” for success when he began the program. “There was one game we lost 17-13,” Newell said. Technically, it was referred to as the “four-corner stall,” because players would hold onto the ball for minutes on end, waiting for defenders to come out and challenge, which opened up the court. For that reason, he often had his team run a four-corner offense once across half court. Newell, whose father led Cal to the NCAA championship in 1959, had talented teams in his own right, but keeping up with the Mariners was another story. Warmerdam coached in an era where there wasn’t a shot clock. “We ran, shot and pressed,” said Stu Walters, who played for the Mariners in the mid-70s. Doug Glaum scored 49 points in a 116-71 win over San Lorenzo Valley on Feb. 10, 1984, and also had a 62-point game that year. Bryan Holt scored a school-record 64 points in a 107-70 win over North Monterey County on Feb. Two of his former players are still among California’s all-time single-game scoring leaders. His high scoring teams eclipsed 100 points seven times, six before a 3-point line was implemented.
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The Mariners didn’t just attempt shots, they made them, plenty of them. “Part of that was for the fans,” said Cris Warmerdam, the coach’s son, who played on the teams that reached the NorCal finals. “The running joke was, if they were past half court and they could see the basket, they’d fire it up,” Newell said. Aptos High’s basketball coaching legend Bill Warmerdam enjoys some time with his wife of 62 years, Patricia. His teams pressed on defense and were uptempo on offense, often unleashing shots mere seconds after crossing half court. Nearly always light-hearted, he is said to have saved his wrath for game officials and his players, only if they attempted more than three passes in their half-court set. He had a complex playbook, but rarely called plays. “In the seventies and eighties, his teams were the gold standard of high school basketball.” “I have nothing but respect for him as a person and coach,” said Pete Newell Jr., who coached at Santa Cruz High for 30 years and led the Cardinals to the 2005 CIF state championship. His ’85-86 team won Central Coast Section and NorCal titles and his ’86-87 team was the CCS and NorCal runner-up. His teams posted a collective 393-232 record and won 10 league championships, including six in a row. Warmerdam coached the Mariners’ boys basketball team from 1970 to ’92.