PLEASANTON — On the walls of the Amador Valley gym, written in purple and yellow block letters are the words, “School of Champions.”
For most sports on campus, it’s a motto that’s lived easily. Amador’s football team won a North Coast Section and NorCal title in 2024.
The Dons’ softball team went on a magical run to a CIF NorCal Division I title a year and a half ago. Both girls and boys volleyball teams have long been contenders in the always challenging East Bay Athletic League.
But for the boys basketball team, the phrase has long felt like an echo from another era. For the last 15 years, Amador Valley has fielded competitive teams but never sustained success that translated into league or section titles.
This winter, though, there is a different feeling around the Pleasanton school.
Amador Valley enters this season as the early favorite to win the EBAL. Powered by a surge of high-profile transfers and a crew of returners ready to make the Dons a powerhouse in Northern California, the program has seemingly transformed overnight.
The Dons haven’t won a league title since 2018 – their lone EBAL championship in 20 years – and haven’t hoisted a North Coast Section trophy since 1995. But the talent and intrigue around the program have skyrocketed, leading most around the community to ponder: Is this the year the Amador Valley basketball team lives up to the “School of Champions” moniker?
“The buzz in the community is very high,” said sixth-year coach Willis Gardner. “There might be some bad reactions just in the sense that we do have so many high-level transfers. But we’ve had talented kids here for the last four years. It’s my job as a coach just to keep the culture going.”
But make no mistake, Gardner doesn’t want his team to buy into the hype.
“If we’re speaking real facts, Amador Valley hasn’t finished in the top 6 of this league since I’ve been here,” he said. “There’s nothing to smile about. There’s nothing to be happy about. We didn’t finish good last year in the league. We got knocked out of NCS. So it’s nothing to be walking around here smiling about. I’m just trying to keep them hungry, motivated and humble. Humbleness is the biggest thing until March.”
Despite not fielding an elite team for the last 15 years, Amador Valley has a rich basketball history.
From 1975 to 1985, the Dons won 11 consecutive league titles, and from 1990 to 1995, Amador Valley captured four Division II NCS titles.
But since Amador Valley’s golden era, the Dons have been somewhat forgotten in the EBAL. While only having three losing seasons since 2004, the Dons have never been a consistent threat to win EBAL titles.
Gardner and his players hope this season can change that perception.
“I look at this season as one with a chip on our shoulder,” junior point guard Jaylen Smith, who earned all-league honors last season, said. “We got something to prove because Amador Valley hasn’t been on the map like this for a while.”
Smith already gave Amador Valley a foundation that most programs would envy. The 5-foot-11 point guard holds multiple Division I offers from the likes of New Mexico, San Francisco and UC Santa Barbara after showcasing his smooth, three-level scoring prowess in Amador Valley’s run to the NCS postseason.
Alongside Smith is fellow returner Cade Krueger, who committed to San Jose State in the fall. Together, the duo formed a capable backcourt that looked primed to bring the Dons to a breakout season.
But then came the reinforcements.
This year’s EBAL player of the year favorite Cameron Anderson, who was a 6-foot-7, two-way standout for Dublin last season, recently moved to Pleasanton and is slated to become the team’s defensive anchor once he is cleared to play.
The Dons added former Salesian guard Elijah Stanley, who was integral in the Richmond school’s run through the NCS and NorCal Open Division playoffs, bringing another high-level scoring threat into the fold.
Amador Valley is also waiting for 6-foot-6 sharpshooter Arman Mahavni to get clearance to suit up following a standout year at American High in Fremont.
With so much talent funneling into one locker room, the question isn’t whether the Dons have enough pieces but how quickly each piece fits as a unit.
“This season all depends on how well we play together,” Anderson said. “I think if we do that, the sky’s the limit for us.”
And with that sudden surge of talent, plenty of people around the Bay Area have started paying closer attention, and in some cases, raising eyebrows.
How is it that a program that has spent much of this century fighting for relevance is suddenly pulling in all-league guards, Open Division standouts and 6-foot-7 anchors in a single offseason?
Gardner has heard the chatter, but he isn’t surprised. In his view, transfers have always been a part of the culture in the EBAL and sees the influx of new players as a larger trend that is quickly reshaping one of the toughest leagues in the state.
“EBAL has always been getting transfers,” Gardner said. “I got some heavy hitters, but people have been getting heavy hitters all the time. I think the coaches attract the players and players attract other players because our league is so damn good. I think it’s just exciting for kids to come in and play in this league. There’s a lot of (college) coaches at our games. It’s always a heavyweight bout.”
But none of the early-season talk will matter if the Dons can’t prove that this is their year.
Amador Valley has flooded its schedule with elite teams, starting with this Saturday’s game against Sunnyslope-Arizona, the No. 9 team in the country according to MaxPreps, in the NorCal Tipoff Classic at Dublin High.
The Dons will then play Archbishop Riordan, St. Ignatius, The King’s Academy and Oakland Tech in the coming weeks before entering league play.
Those early tests will reveal whether Amador Valley is merely a collection of talent or a team that could resurrect a legacy long left in storage.
And inside the gym, beneath those purple and yellow letters that have challenged a generation of athletes, the Dons insist that they are ready to earn their place alongside the programs that make the words “School of Champions” more than a decoration.
“It’s going to be about working hard,” Anderson said. “I think we have the potential to go really far. We can win a state title. It’s going to come down to how we play as a unit and how hard we want to work together.”
For the first time in years, Amador Valley believes the words on the wall might finally be within reach.