Gary Lenoir, Shelton Diggs leading Lynwood and Long Beach Poly into CIF-SS title games

On the surface, there isn’t much in common between the Press-Telegram area’s two boys basketball teams playing for a Southe Section championship this Saturday at the Honda Center.

When Lynwood tips off against Santa Barbara at noon, the Knights will be seeking the program’s second division championship, and first since 1976. Long Beach Poly, tipping at 2 p.m. against J.W. North, will be trying to win a 21st CIF-SS championship and second in the last three years.

But there is one strong link between the Knights and Jackrabbits: both are coached by young alums who have retued home to become leaders in their communities. And, according to Lynwood coach Gary Lenoir and Poly coach Shelton Diggs, nothing means more than giving back.

“It’s just a love for my city,” said Lenoir, who was bo and raised in Lynwood. “I went to elementary school, junior high, and high school here. My brother played at Lynwood with Eaest Killum, I’ve been around Lynwood basketball since fourth grade.”

Diggs, too, would rather win at Poly than succeed somewhere else.

“Everything I have, I owe to going to Poly,” he said. “Working with kids and helping them get to where they want to go is the best way to give back.”

The two have actually been friends for over 15 years, having attended their alma maters at the same time and actually playing against one another while in high school. The duo have added some weight since their prep days as skiy guards (both praised their wife’s cooking as the cause of that), but have remained true to their hometowns.

Lenoir graduated from Lynwood in 1999, playing basketball for the Knights in an era when the San Gabriel Valley League was dominated by the Dominguez powerhouse.

“Tyson Chandler, Tayshaun Prince, all those guys, they took over,” Lenoir said.

After graduating, he went to Compton College and then Emporia State in Kansas, where he had a brief playing career. While Lenoir’s story begins in Lynwood, his coaching career began at Emporia, where he fell in love with working with players. As he realized he wanted to be a coach, he also realized he wanted to do it at Lynwood.

“I didn’t know I’d love it the way I did,” he said. “I coected with the guys out there and I knew it would be special to come home.”

He joined the Lynwood staff as an assistant six years ago, and is now in his fourth year as head coach.

Since taking over, Lenoir has led Lynwood on a sharply upward path. The Knights have won more games each year under Lenoir, including this year’s 23-5 campaign, which brought Lynwood’s first SGVL title since 2005.

The success has brought links to the Knights’ glory days, as Lynwood great Juaquin Hawkins will be speaking to the Knights later this week.

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Diggs graduated Poly in 1998, and after a playing career at Weste Washington, retued home. He knew most of his life he wanted to be a basketball coach, and wanted to coach at his alma mater. He wanted that badly enough that he was the longtime junior varsity head man, a role he said he would have been willing to serve in as long as he was needed.

Instead he was thrust into the spotlight when coach Sharrief Metoyer was suspended three years. As the interim coach, Diggs led Poly to a CIF-SS 1AA title in 2014, and when Metoyer decided he didn’t want to come back, the interim tag promptly came off of Diggs.

He’s successfully kept the Jackrabbits’ legacy going, wiing three league titles in his three years, and now piloting Poly to a second CIF-SS title game in three years. The Jackrabbits have also clinched a berth in the Division II state playoffs, which could give them a run at a third state title.

Players for both teams have said it’s special playing for coaches who have walked the same hallways that they have.

“You know that he was here and went through the same things you’re going through,” Lynwood freshman point guard Oscar Lopez said.

“Knowing that he went to Poly it just made it easier to trust him and know that he’s looking out for you,” said Poly grad KJ Feagin during Diggs’ first year coaching.

Both coaches want to stay at their alma maters. Both have already become important leaders in their community and are looked up to and respected by young basketball players. For now the future is on hold. All that matters to Lenoir and Diggs is Saturday, and bringing home another CIF-SS championship to their alma maters.

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