HOOPS

Triton Coaching Staff
Daniel Montecinos
Assistant Coach, Junior Varsity
The 2015-16 season will mark Daniel Montecinos’ 10th year coaching at San Clemente High School. A Triton alum
(class of 1999), Montecinos competed in football, basketball and track and field during his high school career. For
the past 15 years he has held the record for tackles in a single game at 22.
Coach Montecinos attended Saddleback Community College before transferring to the University of Redlands,
where he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and liberal arts in 2005.
At home, he is happily married to his Canadian wife, Julie, whom he met while on a two-year holiday in Australia.
In addition to his coaching role, Montecinos owns a real estate investment company with his wife, helping families
affected by foreclosure. He also has been a certified personal trainer for the past 11 years.
Coach Montecinos is excited to be coaching by his brother’s side for another competitive season. Since rejoining
Oscar in the 2013-14 season, their teams have posted an impressive 45-4 record, which includes two league
championships and wins over each of the teams to which they lost.
He also has become known for creating impressive posters to share with the team from the many tournament
championship photos they have posed for over the past few years.
Christopher Schefter
Head Coach, Sophomore
Christopher Schefter returns for his seventh year of coaching basketball at San Clemente High School and his third
at the helm of the sophomore team. During his tenure, Schefter’s teams have earned five league championships,
including a share of last year’s sophomore boys’ crown.
Prior to joining the boys’ program, he coached the SCHS girls, where he was honored to lead the frosh/soph team
to three league titles and numerous tournament championships.
Additionally, he has played and enjoyed the game for more than 40 years, and is particularly fond of the heyday of
Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers’ “showtime” era.
A teacher in the Capistrano Unified School District for 24 years, Schefter has spent the last nine teaching
psychology/sociology at SCHS. Prior to that, he was at Marco Forster Middle School for 14 years. He jokes that
middle school didn’t kill him, obviously, but did make him stronger and more appreciative of his assignment at
SCHS.
He lives in Lake Forest with his wife, the team’s biggest fan. Both animal lovers, they share their home with three
rescued dogs, several reptiles and an eminently confident conure named Peekaboo.
John Smetona
Head Coach, Freshman/Strength and Conditioning Coordinator
John Smetona begins his fifth season coaching at the freshmen level. – this time as the head coach and overseeing
the strength and conditioning program for the entire basketball program. Coach Smetona has lived in San Clemente
since 1963 and graduated from SCHS in 1977.
He spent the past summer working with the incoming freshman team during league and tournament play, and has
been coaching since his oldest son, Ian, now 30 began team basketball at the age of six. Coach Smetona has coached
at all levels of the local NJB and club team programs.
He worked with his four oldest children Ian, Dustin, Sean (who graduated from SCHS in 2006 and played on
the varsity basketball and volleyball teams) and daughter Tanja. His youngest child, 12-year-old Sarah, is an avid
equestrian and enjoys song and dance. Sean will be joining him on the sideline this season as his assistant coach.
Coach Smetona promotes fundamentals, defense and working as a team. He looks forward to using basketball
as another tool to help prepare young men for the challenges they will face in the coming years. He is a NASM
Certified personal trainer with a specialization in sports performance. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, biking and,
of course, working out. Coach Smetona and his wife, Monika, live in San Clemente.
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