Father-son duo Dave and Justin Matsu finding niche together at Mills

“As a father, I am so honored to be able to do this with my kid,” Dave Matsu said.

In his 16th year at Mills, Dave began utilizing Justin’s coaching talents when Justin was a still in high school. A graduate of Serra, Justin played four years of basketball for the Padres, including two varsity seasons, and as a junior was a reserve player on the 2015-16 team that won the CIF State Boys’ Basketball Division II championship.

It was during Justin’s junior year at Serra he started bringing a new-school approach to Mills. He started breaking down game film, scouting the statistical metrics of opposing teams, and even attended games when they didn’t conflict with his Serra schedule.

This was the start of a unique trajectory into his recent coaching career for Justin — though it is a return to his roots, as his life in basketball started at Mills, where he was a bright-eyed 7-year-old running wild at the old Mills gym when his father started coaching there.

“I walk into the gym now and I still picture how the old gym was set up,” said Justin, who bonded not just with his father’s teams in those day, but with the Mills boys’ basketball teams, when the program was run by longtime head coach Rick Hanson.

“His teams were awesome too,” Justin said. “They treated me like a little brother.”

The family theme was a fitting start for the Matsus. Dave’s coaching philosophy has long built off the Hawaiian word “ohana,” which means “family.”

“I run my program as a family,” Dave said. “We respect one another. We care for one another. … I have really built that foundation and our kids, and these families, have bought into this ‘ohana’ culture.”

Dave said he didn’t want Justin to attend Serra. Justin was not exactly basketball superstar material, and Dave encouraged him to go the public-school route, which would have landed him at Carlmont. Justin, however, insisted on attending Serra.

“He proved me wrong,” Dave said. “He made the team four years in a row and won the state title as a junior.”

From there, Justin’s basketball career took an interesting turn. While he considered playing at Skyline College, he ultimately decided to hang ’em up in order to focus on academics at Oregon State. But it was there he got “recruited” to contribute to the world of collegiate basketball, when he was approached at an open gym by Oregon State women’s basketball coach Eric Ely.

Ely offered Justin a spot on the scout team for his women’s program, meaning he would attend practices and run drills as a stand-in for upcoming opponents. He even once served as a practice double for former Naismith Player of the Year winner, Sabrina Ionescu of University of Oregon.

But even from Corvallis, Oregon, Justin continued to help his father with scouting for Mills. Dave and Justin would discuss the team during a weekly telephone call, and Justin would help with the team whenever he’d come home. Then when the COVID pandemic hit, Justin came home for good, taking leave from Oregon State.

Justin said he isn’t returning to Oregon State. Instead, he’s deciding between in-person and remote learning, as he plans to continue college at either San Jose State or with Purdue University Global online.

Working as an official assistant coach at Mills was worth the relocation, Justin said.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Justin said. “I like it a lot better being in the games instead of waiting for a text from my dad afterwards with a score.”

For Dave, passing on his coaching principals is a continuation of the teachings of one of his coaching mentors, Mike Ciardella. Most recently an assistant coach for girls’ basketball at Sequoia, Ciardella more famously ran the programs at Hillsdale and Sacred Heart Prep. It was at the latter where Dave Matsu coached on Ciardella’s staff.

“He was a major, major influence in my life,” Dave said. He was like a dad to me. So, I was very blessed to have the guru of basketball to be like a father figure to me.”

Now, Dave is taking those father figure teachings quite literally.

“Amen,” Dave said. “A hundred percent. What I learned from Mike, I’m passing down to my son.”