Hillsdale tabs Mitchell as new boys’ basketball coach

Mitchell becomes the seventh head coach since the school opened in 1955 and becomes the first Black coach in the history of the boys’ basketball program.

“Very excited,” Mitchell said, who “played” under Wilkin, grew up with Stevenson, who was a year ahead at Hillsdale, and was a senior Manning Laisne’s freshman year. Mitchell is a San Mateo native currently living in Foster City.

Hillsdale athletic director James Madison said the coaching search began at the end of March and officially hired Mitchell June 2.

“It was a long, extensive process,” Madison said, adding that “a couple dozen” people applied for the position. In the end, Mitchell’s basketball IQ and his involvement in the Hillsdale community, put him over the top.

“Our community is so strong, had we landed on a candidate not part of the community, who cared about the kids, he would have been supported. There is always value in growing the community,” Madison said. “But it definitely doesn’t hurt to already be part of the community and have a relationship with the kids.”

Mitchell takes over from Manning Laisne, who replaced Stevenson beginning the 2021 season. Manning Laisne spent the last five seasons coaching the Knights, compiling a Peninsula Athletic League record of 30-29 and was 56-58 overall, making the Central Coast Section playoffs in his first four seasons. Manning Laisne, who spent five years at Aragon from 2006 to 2011, has an overall PAL record of 54-55 and a lifetime varsity record of 120-126, with seven playoff appearances.

Mitchell served as the Hillsdale junior varsity coach for 10 years, from 2015 to 2024, but has also been the school’s student success coordinator, as well as developing an in-school non-profit, Empowerment Through Action, which works in conjunction with the school’s community resource center.

Stevenson, who stepped down as head coach after leading the Knights to the 2020 Central Coast Section Division III championship, is an assistant principal at the school and works with Mitchell at ETA.

“I met DeShawn Mitchell in 1987 on the basketball courts of Abbott Middle School,” Stevenson said in a text. “DeShawn is one of the best human beings I know and cares deeply about young people.”

And it was ETA that led Mitchell to step away from coaching after the 2023-24 season.

“[I] really wanted to focus on [ETA]. I was a student that kind of fought the system myself, so it’s incredible for me to right those wrongs,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t want to walk away (from coaching), but this thing really started to grow.”

But Mitchell always intended to return to the sideline. Mitchell said the organization has spread to all the other schools in the San Mateo Union High School District and, with most everything in place, decided to come back to coaching.

But this time as a head coach.

“I ran away from being a varsity coach for a long time,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been a JV coach for a little over 20 years. It was time (to take a crack at a head coaching position). … I got all these plays and ideas and they work at the JV level. But I wanted to see what I’m about. I’ve been over .500 (winning percentage my JV career). … I was ready to take the jump.”

It’s actually quite an accomplishment that Mitchell has gotten this far in high school coaching, considering his high school career was the complete opposite. While he made the team his first three years at Hillsdale, he was knocked out each time by academic eligibility.

“I was definitely the best player in my class. I think I played two dribbles against South City my freshman year. Grades came out and it was bye, bye birdie,” Mitchell said.

His senior year, Wilkin issued Mitchell an ultimatum: Get your stuff together or you’re not on the team.

Mitchell didn’t get his act together and not even his talent was enough for Wilkin to put him on the roster. Of course, Mitchell blamed everyone but himself.

But he was good enough to spend half a season at Cañada College under Mike Legarza before an ankle injury ended his year. He then moved on to Foothill College for a season, but around the same time, to started an entertainment company that took off. He spent the next 10-15 years growing that company before transitioning into education.

In 2003, he was hired to work with the Sacred Heart Prep freshman and JV squads, working with now-current SHP girls’ head coach Kai Bell.

“Kai talked me into coaching,” Mitchell said.

He spent more than a decade with the Gators but, with his son going to Hillsdale for high school, Mitchell moved over to his alma mater with a new outlook on life. Now he is using his experiences growing up to help students navigate through high school life.

“Basketball is secondary to me (now),” Mitchell said. “I know there are X’s and O’s and everyone wants to win, but life is a funny thing. It’s about finishing. It’s about taking the journey and understanding the journey and sometimes you lose on that journey.

“But what you learn (during the journey) is the beautiful thing. When they (the players) leave, if they’re honorable young men, and they respect each other and the game, then I’ve done my job.”

“He has a relationship with coaches (on the Peninsula),” Madison said of Mitchell. “He’s a glue guy, whether with kids or adults. A number of individuals who are basketball people that I talked to, who didn’t know he was applying, brought up DeShawn. He has a lot of respect around the basketball community.”