Sedona Red Rock High School is looking for a new boys basketball coaching staff after head coach C.J. Sells and his son, Michael, submitted their resignations July 26.
“My plan, from the beginning, was to do it for a couple of years, then turn the program over to Michael,” said Sells, at 131-83 the most successful Scorpions boys basketball coach. “We played nine games this summer, and it was all we could do to get five guys to play basketball.
“It was pretty obvious that what we’re selling, they weren’t buying. What we figured is, either they don’t have much interest in us or not much interest in basketball, so we’ll step aside and let somebody younger handle it.”
Fresh off a 17-12 second season and state playoff berth with the Scorpions, Sells could not duplicate the 104 wins of his first five-year tenure with the program in which, behind son Michael, he became its most successful head coach, making the Class 2A semifinals in 1999.
“Bottom line, basketball season has never been November to February for us,” said Sells, who added that Michael would play in 75 games every summer during his playing days. “Everybody will say, ‘That’s different; it’s summer.’
“It’s not different; the kids just chose not to be there. If you’re going to have a program with sustained success, like you’ve had in past seasons, it’s just been my experience that if they don’t show up to summer basketball, it’ll carry over into the season.”
While both C.J. and Michael Sells will continue to manage their Village of Oak Creek restaurant, their basketball focus is coaching college basketball prospects with the Phoenix club team Arizona Power Basketball.
“We had to cancel a June tournament at Chino Valley High School because we didn’t have enough kids,” Sells said. “Michael was just frustrated at the lack of commitment.
“But I let it lie. I thought Michael would get back in the gym working with some of these 15 to 20 D[ivision] I college basketball Power players and change his mind.
“But we came home from Las Vegas [July 23], and Michael said, ‘I’ve weighed the pros and cons, and I just can’t come home upset.’”
