Kristy Netto has resigned as coach of the Scotts Valley High girls basketball team. Assistant coach and school athletic director Louie Walters will coach the team through the Central Coast Section playoffs.
The Falcons (17-8) hold the No. 6 seed in Division IV and will host No. 11 The King’s Academy (12-13) in a second-round game Thursday at 7 p.m.
Netto submitted her resignation Feb. 16 following the Falcons’ 60-43 loss to Aptos in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Tournament semifinals. It was Scotts Valley’s final game before the CCS playoffs.
Netto cited “irreconcilable differences” within the program as her reason for leaving.
“I’m officially retired,” Netto said in a phone interview Thursday. “I’ve put everything I have into it: my heart, my soul, my sweat, my tears.”
This is the second straight season Netto will not be at the helm when a team coached by her begins its playoff run. Last season she was dismissed as coach of the Santa Cruz High girls varsity team five days before playoffs began.
Although Netto said she was given no specific reason for her dismissal from Santa Cruz, she said at the time she believed it was for swearing around the players. She had been informed at the beginning of SCCAL play early last January that an email was sent to school administrators regarding her language and that it was offending the players. Netto said she spoke with the team as a result and apologized.
Cardinals players wore warm-ups honoring Netto before their 2016 CCS opener.
Prior to Santa Cruz, Netto coached the Cabrillo College women’s team from 2007-14. The program was suspended due to low turnout in 2015 but has since been reinstated. She also previously coached the junior varsity boys team at Santa Cruz for two seasons and the freshman boys team for five before taking over the women’s team at Cabrillo.
Netto took over a Scotts Valley program that went undefeated in SCCAL play for three straight years and lost the CCS D-IV final by one point last season under second-year coach Rick Silver. The Falcons graduated six players from that 2015-16 team, including league MVP Nikiya Bechtle and Sentinel All-County Athlete of the Year Grace Giguiere.
This year’s team finished third in the SCCAL at 8-4 behind Soquel and Aptos. It will now be up to Walters to try to lead the Falcons on another deep playoff run.
“He has stuck by me through and through,” Netto said.
Netto said she will still consult and coach some one-on-one sessions in the summer, but she has no plans to seek a head coaching position with another school.
“People who know me know don’t go half (way),” she said. “I go full throttle, and if I’m not happy, I walk away.”
Contact Julie Jag at 831-706-3257.
