SANTA CRUZ — It took Santa Cruz High’s hiring committee three shots, but a successor to recently retired Lawan Milhouse, the Cardinals’ wildly successful boys basketball coach, was officially named last week.
Gabriel Gonzales, 42, who previously coached the girls and boys teams at Scotts Valley High for a combined four seasons, takes over the Cardinals ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
Gonzales said the Cardinals’ rich basketball history inspired him to apply.
“It’s a basketball school, no doubt about it,” said Gonzales, an off-campus coach who will continue to serve at the athletics director at Baymonte Christian School in Scotts Valley.
The Cardinals, a three-time Central Coast Section champion and 13-time section finalist, won the CIF Division III state title in 2005 under iconic coach Pete Newell Jr. and reached the D-III state final in 2024, under Milhouse.
“I’ve always wanted to have a program that was basketball, just the history in it, where there’s a strong tradition,” Gonzales said. “So, for me, I was definitely very excited. Probably a big reason for that was the history. We’re living under a rock if we don’t understand that talent comes to the program every year. For me, it was an exciting opportunity and there’s no way I could’ve passed it up.”
Milhouse, who coached at Santa Cruz for 20 seasons, was a huge part of the program’s success. While Milhouse had plenty of supporters, several parents who believed that he was verbally abusive to players were happy to see him retire.
Santa Cruz made two other hires for the position. The first was a member of Milhouse’s staff and team parents pleaded with the administration for a complete overhaul of the staff, one source said, off the record. The second hire had a personal conflict arise that forced him to step down.
Several of Gonzales’ colleagues suggested that he apply. He coached the Falcons’ girls team in 2021-22 and the boys’ team from 2022-25, but stepped down to deal with health and family issues. Admittedly, he dealt with some hardships in his final season at Scotts Valley and said he felt “unfulfilled” and yearned to return to the court.
That said, he was thankful for the support of Scotts Valley’s administration, and noted that he has been flabbergasted by the welcoming he received from Santa Cruz’s administration and other Cardinals coaches.
“We’re happy about the new coaching staff,” said Cardinals Athletics Director Erik Redding. “We’re happy about the direction. We’re excited to have Gabe as a coach. We’re excited about moving forward and seeing what goes on with the program as we move forward.”
Gonzales has already coached some of the talent that he has inherited at Santa Cruz. The Cardinals competed at the UC Santa Barbara camp in late June and went 1-4 against high level competition. It’s also playing in the Santa Clara Summer League.
“My main focal point is pretty much building character, building players, and then we can talk about league and we can talk about CCS a little bit down the road,” Gonzales said. “For me, it’s more about respecting the Santa Cruz tradition and trying to produce a good product for the Santa Cruz school and county and the kids that are there. I believe, coming down to it, we will be competitive in league and competitive in CCS each year.”
The Cardinals (11-15 overall, 7-3 league) tied for second place in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League last season with Aptos (14-15, 7-3), while Soquel (24-7, 10-0) won its first league title since 2013.
Santa Cruz’s youth-laden roster featured just three seniors last season. Gonzales counts incoming senior forward Kaden Miritz, senior guard L.J. Legan, and junior guards Zavion Hamilton and Ronin Manzo — all of whom started last season — among his returners and is excited about several others, including potential newcomer Laird Bowser, a tall, athletic goalie on the water polo team.
“We have a lot of talent,” Gonzales said. “I’m very encouraged and excited, but we do have a long way to go. … They’re hungry. They want to get after it.”
Gonzales said the coaching staff is equally hungry. It includes DeAndre James and Brandan Gill as varsity assistants, Lenny Fortunato as the junior-varsity coach, and Steven Perez as the freshman coach, with Quan Nguyen as his assistant.
Gonzales is a 2002 Gilroy High alum. He played guard for the Mustangs (15-8, 10-3) and helped them earn a share of the Monterey Bay league title with Alisal (12-16, 10-3) as a senior.
He redshirted in basketball at Gavilan College and played baseball for the Rams before transferring to since-closed NAIA Division II Bethany University in Scotts Valley, where he was a two-sport student-athlete.