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SoCal Prep & High School Preview

Nathaniel and Tucker of Oakland's McClymonds
High Look at the Big Picture--(November 12, 1997)

With the National Letter of Intent Days upon us, and the focus this has brought to the college basketball recruiting prospect, the Oakland Tribune has featured some great articles. In addition to the Ray Young series, today's edition also featured a piece on Dwight Nathaniel and his star player Darrel Tucker, a 6'-8" power forward/center.

You want to know what it's like to be the coach of such a coveted player. Nathaniel will let you in on a secret. He thinks it's a mixed blessing.

Oakland's McClymonds High School is a school with a long history in basketball in California. In the 1978 Tournament of Champions, McClymonds defeated Crenshaw. At the time, the game was as close as it got to a state championship.

Nathaniel has been both an AAU coach and a high school coach. He'll be stepping down this year to spend more time with his family. This will be his fifth and final season as the varsity coach at McClymonds. Nathaniel attended McClymonds himself and has seen many changes, including declining enrollments and changing economic conditions in the area.

Having been both an AAU coach and a high school coach, he's seen the view from both sides of the fence. And at least for now, he doesn't like what he sees on the AAU side. Nathaniel has had to worry, just like other high school coaches, about each off-season, about which "professional" person would try to get his hooks into Tucker. About what other coaches might "tamper" with his star player. About what other all-star player might get him to transfer to a different school.

Well, this year, Nathaniel was not having any of that. Tucker didn't play in any "all-star" tournaments. He'd already had enough exposure from the prior year, so what was the point?

According to Wednesday's Oakland Tribune article, during each of the past two summers, Nathaniel has heard the rumors about Tucker transferring to this or that school. He's heard rumors about Tucker going to the NBA. He says that players from other teams have tried to convince him to transfer.

"That's one of the biggest things", he told the Tribune. Nathaniel says he became familiar with the recruiting and "transfer" talk from other players when he was coaching Will Levy, now at Diablo Valley College, who starred at McClymonds. "They get kids on all-star teams and get in kids' heads", Nathaniel said to the Tribune. "They'll say, 'Come over with us on our team, and we will win the State Championship' It is always other players that do this," Nathaniel said.

This last summer he heard repeated rumors that Tucker would transfer either to De La Salle or to Alameda St. Joseph. He finally put the rumors to rest himself. "I got on an airplane to Las Vegas to a Nike coaches' clinic and (some high school coaches) said, 'What about Darrell's going to St. Joe's?' and I told them, 'Darrell's not going anywhere.' "

Nathaniel told the Tribune that he was going to have Tucker stay because he had already received enough attention. "You have to look at the big picture. Darrell did not need any more exposure. When he was a sophomore, and he played with Will Levy, we made it to the semifinals. All season long, coaches told me they would be back for Tucker."

But Tucker and Nathaniel also have a pact with each other. According to the Tribune article, Nathaniel would have retired two years ago, but he reportedly told Tucker when Tucker enrolled that he couldn't play unless he made a commitment to himself and McClymonds in the classroom and on the court for three year. Tucker reportedly also wanted a committment from Nathaniel, and he got one. Together, they waded through and screened the more than 50 colleges who were interested in Tucker this year.

Tucker told the Tribune, "He was like the father. He told us what to expect and what whas going to happen. He told me to get a calendar. He told me all these things. I followed all of them. It helped a lot."

One of the things Nathaniel help Tucker with was playing this last summer in the San Fransico Pro-Am league, which is played at Kezar in the Golden Gate Park area of the City. "It opened up his eyes" Nathaniel said.

"It was a new experience for me," Tucker told the Tribune. "Just playing with Gary Paton (from Oakland's Skyline High), and all those guys at Kezar Stadium. Antonio (Davis, another McClymonds alum) is like a big brother. He lets me know what's going to happen on the next level, what's going to happen in the pros if I get there. He's a terrific guy."

Perhaps one reason Tucker is not getting a lot of name attention this year is that he skipped the all-star invitational camps this summer, except for the Nike Indianapolis Camp and the NBA Camp at Princeton. Seems he had gotten two D's last spring, and had to go to summer school to stay eligible. Again, Nathaniel says, "You have to look at the big picture."

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