Batory take over Aragon boys’ basketball

“[Batory’s] ready to roll,” said Aragon athletic director Steve Sell. “He’s got some very ambitious plans about developing the program. We’re excited to have him.”

Batory, who works for Franklin Templeton, grew up in upstate New York and is 1994 graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts. He played overseas for five seasons in six countries, including stops in Ireland, Switzerland, Malta, Mauritius and Costa Rica. He started his coaching career as an assistant at Dalton School in Manhattan, returned to his high school alma mater for one season as a head coach, before helping Collegiate School on the Upper Westside of Manhattan to the 2008 New York state championship.

After a three-year stint as an assistant in the Miami area, Batory moved to the Bay Area in 2012, serving as an assistant at Crystal Springs, Pinewood and eventually working with Peter Diepenbrock at Palo Alto High, helping the Vikings to back-to-back Nor Cal title appearances in 2017 and 2018.

After a year as an assistant at Menlo School, Batory assisted Patton this past season.

“I had a ton of fun [this past] year,” said Batory, 48. “Hosea might be the most high-character guy I’ve ever been around. Just a big-hearted guy who cares about the kids more than anything.”

The same might be said of Batory, who said he initially got into coaching to give back to a sport that gave him so much, but also an opportunity to impart life experiences to his players.

“I’m a huge believer that sports, in general, is an extension of education. What we are about is developing young men. As such, I’m not the kind of coach who believes in dogma or having robots on the court,” Batory said. “My ultimate goal is to empower players to be able to make the best on-the-fly decisions they can make. I’ve seen over the years a lot of different (coaching) styles and that’s great. But I want to teach kids to think.

“I’m a big John Wooden guy, big Steve Kerr guy, big Phil Jackson guy. I’m not a guy who barks. I’m more cerebral.”

Batory takes over a Dons’ program that went 5-7 in PAL South play and 9-15 overall this past season, the fourth of Patton’s tenure. It was the second-straight losing season for the Dons. In four seasons, Patton had a league record of 24-24 and an overall record of 52-54.

“I had no idea Hosea was leaving,” Sell said, noting Patton was an Aragon graduate and a member of the 1994 Dons’ Central Coast Section Division III championship team.

Sell said Patton would like to stay with the program in some capacity.

“Since Ben was just hired, the makeup of his staff hasn’t been solidified,” Sell said. “Hosea has an interest in staying and coaching in the program. The interest is mutual. We value Hosea and his basketball knowledge.”

When Patton was hired prior to the start of the 2016-17 season, Sell said Batory also interviewed for the position. While he didn’t get the job, Sell said he kept Batory’s name in his mental contact list.

“I remember saying, ‘He’s the best candidate we haven’t hired,” Sell said. “[Patton] was the right decision at the time. … But in the back of my mind, I said, ‘I’m going to, some day, going to revisit this.’ During the interview process with people, there are people you don’t hire that you keep in your data bank.”

Patton brought Batory on as an assistant for the 2019-20 season and it allowed Sell and the Aragon administration a look into how he worked with the team.

“I credit Hosea, I give him a lot of credit for bringing in an assistant with a lot of knowledge,” Sell said. “Ben took on a very active role, so I was able to watch him work. … See if he was a good fit for our program.”

Sell said there four or five coaching candidates that he interviewed for the opening, “but [Batory] was the best one.”