Land O’ Lakes High School varsity boys basketball coach Dave Puhalski is ready for a timeout.
After 31 years roaming the Gators sidelines, barking orders, drawing up plays, and molding boys into young men, the longtime coach announced his retirement following the 2019-2020 season.
Puhalski’s swan song was a memorable one — sending off eight seniors to the tune of a 21-6 record, a 5A-7 district title and an appearance in the 5A regional semifinals.
Puhalski, 57, exits as one of the longest-tenured and among the most-decorated coaches in Pasco County sports history. He compiled a 479-349 career mark since taking over the Gators program in 1988.
In total, he spent more than 35 years coaching hoops.
Before taking over at Land O’ Lakes, Puhalski was an assistant at state champion Ocala Vanguard for three seasons and an assistant at University of Tampa for a year.
Any basketball coach knows what all that entails: Countless hours tied up into practices and games. Long nights busing around the state. Sitting on steel bleachers for junior varsity games. Too many family gatherings and vacations missed.
He said the timing’s right to take a break from the hardwood.
He put it like this: “After 35 years, I’ve never had a Christmas vacation, (or) a Thanksgiving vacation; the month of June is all summer league, kids playing, so really, it’s just time.”
‘All about the kids’
So, what made all of these years coaching worth it?
“The kids,” Puhalski said without hesitation.
“They’re the ones that keep me young and keep me in the game for so long. You know, every year you almost get a different set. You get to see kids grow and develop,” he said.
Having an understanding wife, too, helped him to stay in the game for the better part of three decades.
“You’ve gotta have a coach’s wife, and that’s what I have,” Puhalski said of longtime wife Erika. “So, I give her a lot of credit, because she did a lot of the raising of the kids.”
Puhalski’s longevity allowed him to coach “kids of kids” and attend many a former players’ weddings. Seeing Gators hoops alums grow up, start families and lead successful lives is “one of my favorite things,” he said.
The care for hundreds of teenage hoopers has been seen firsthand by Land O’ Lakes boys basketball assistant/booster club president Steve Thomopalos.
His son, Justin, was coached by Puhalski from 2008 to 2012, and the coach helped the player develop into a two-time team MVP.
Thomopalos observed: “If a kid needs a pat on the back, he’ll give it, but also if he needs to be disciplined, he’ll give that, too.”
The assistant added the head coach’s go-to expression goes like this: “All about the kids.”
Puhalski’s tough love is something Gators players grew to revere and appreciate.
“You can tell he cares,” senior guard and team captain Mekhi Perry said. “Getting yelled at is frustrating — but him doing that, you know his heart’s in the right place.”
Senior guard and fellow captain Chase Farmer added Puhalski “was like a father figure to me.”
“As a player, he was there for me,” said Farmer, the school’s all-time dunks leader. “He did a lot of things that some coaches don’t do. He gave me a shoulder to lean on, I could cry in his arms — anything I needed, he was there.”
Revered for defense, old-school nature
Of course, Puhalski knows a thing or two about hoops.
The coach frequently emphasized “rebounding the ball, taking care of the ball and defending the ball.”
He’s particularly regarded for his defense-first mentality — a philosophy that centered heavily on the man-to-man variety, with little regard for zone defenses.
“We play man to man,” Puhalski said pointedly. “In 31 years, we’ve probably played a minute worth of zone.”
And, if players weren’t giving at least equal effort defensively as on offense, Puhalski wasn’t afraid to make an example. “You know, we’ve had really good players that have been pulled at night because they never play defense,” Puhalski said bluntly.
Farmer amicably described Puhalski’s coaching style as “old school, but sometimes he might flare it up.”
Farmer added: “He loves defense, (but) he loves steals, highlights and dunks, all that.”
Perry, the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,616 points, added Puhalski “made a huge impact” on the more nuanced aspects of his game.
“I already came into school like knowing what I was doing, but just the tidbits and details expanded my game even more, and every year I learned more,” the Gators standout said.
It wasn’t just players who’ve learned from Puhalski.
Assistant coaches, too, picked up what it takes to run a quality, winning program.
“Everybody learns from coach,” Thomopalos said. “I’ve never seen, up close and personal, a game managed better…especially at the end, when it’s coming down to the wire and it’s close.”
The assistant added: “He is a real basketball man, through and through.”
Fellow assistant Connor Jordan has worked with Puhalski around a dozen seasons.
From Puhalski, Jordan learned Xs and Os are just a small part of leading a successful high school program.
“It’s really about discipline and making sure everything’s organized, expectations and keeping kids held accountable and things like that,” Jordan said. “All that stuff that coaches talk about, (Puhalski) actually follows through on.”
Whoever takes over the Gators program indeed has a tall task in replacing Puhalski.
That very well could be Jordan, who many in the program — including Puhalski — hope lands the head post. “Gigantic shoes to fill,” Jordan of the possibility.
Meantime, Puhalski is considering teaching physical education for another year at Land O’ Lakes. He also said he wants to continue helping with the program and acclimate whoever next becomes head coach.
“I want to try to keep this going at the level we have it at now,” Puhalski said. “I’m not going to have a whole hand in it, but I’ll be there in whatever (the new coach) needs me to do.”
Published April 1, 2020