Mater Dei boys basketball coach Gary McKnight reaches rare win plateau
Over his three decades at Mater Dei, Gary McKnight has written a storied legacy for himself and the boys basketball team.
On Wednesday, he reached a legendary echelon of coaching talent by recording his 1,200 win.
The Monarchs took down Porterville 89-53 on Wednesday and then followed it up for win No. 1,201 with a 55-54 performance against De La Salle on Thursday at the Xavier Winter Showcase.
McKnight is the fourth boys basketball coach to reach such mark. The other three are longtime Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) coach Steve Smith, who is at 1,212 wins; Morgan Wootten, who won 1,274 games over 46 years at DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) and became the first person to be inducted to the Hall of Fame solely for high school coaching credentials; and Robert Hughes, who recorded 1,333 wins over 47 seasons between I.M Terrell High School (Fort Worth, Texas) and Dunbar High School (Fort Worth, Texas).
McKnight is the 10th coach overall to hit the plateau, as six girls basketball coaches also have at least 1,200 wins. Leta Andrews, who coached at five different schools from 1962-2014, has a record 1,416 career wins and won at an 80% clip.
McKnight has coached at Mater Dei since 1982. He has won one national championship, 11 state titles, and has led Mater Dei to 38 league titles in his 39 seasons.
Entering this season, he had a 90.7% winning percentage as head coach (1,188-122).
As the calendar flips to 2022, Mater Dei is 13-2 on the season.