2015: Valley Center’s Gilster Nears Second Century

Rob Gilster of Valley Center moved from 11th to 9th place among all-time winning coaches in San Diego County in 2015  and needs three victories next year to gain admittance to the 200 Club.

The Jaguars’ 8-4 season  gave Gilster a 27-season record of 197-121-5 for a .618 winning percentage.  He was head coach at Orange Glen for nine seasons before beginning the Valley Center program in 1998.

Several other active coaches moved up on the all-time list of 41 with at  least 100 victories.

Mira Mesa’s Gary Blevins rose from 21st to 18th with 139 victories, Christian’s Matt Oliver from 26th to 20th with 136, Mission Hills’ Chris Hauser  from 28th to 21st with 135, and Point Loma’s Mike Hastings  from 33rd to 28th with 128.

Madison’s Rick Jackson is the active coaches leader in winning percentage at 108-34-1 (.759) in 12 seasons.

Chula Vista’s Chet DeVore is the all-time percentage leader among coaches of at least 50 games. DeVore was 44-7-1 (.856) from 1951-55.  Duane Maley is second at 97-19-3 (.828) from 1948-59 at San Diego High.

John Carroll leads in the category of  coaching continuously at one school.  Carroll, second all-time with 248 victories, had a .763 winning percentage from 1989-2014 at Oceanside.

Castle Park’s Gil Warren was 83-23-5 (.783) from 1967-77  and 70-18-1 (.792) in a second stint with the Trojans from 1992-98. Ed Burke was 151-40 (.791) in a second go-round at Torrey Pines, 1991-2006.

TRUE GRID

Damien Gonzalez, 98-86-3 at Army-Navy and Poway, is the next closest to 100 victories…no other active coach can reach that mark in 2016…Monte Vista’s Ron Hamamoto, who has 203 victories, leads all active coaches with 343 games…Gilster has coached 323 and Mission Bay’s Willie Matson  312…Mira Mesa has had only two head coaches in 39 years and both have had virtually the same level of success…Gary Blevins is 139-102-4 (.579) in 21 seasons and his predecessor, Brad Griffith was 112-82-3 (.576) in 18….