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“I’m just having fun,” Stelton Mitchell says. “I’m trying to instill that principle into the guys not to put pressure on yourself, because sometimes that can be your worst enemy.” 

With that said, it seems appropriate for Mitchell, coach of the Berkeley High School boy’s basketball team for practically the last two decades, to take a break. In late May, Mitchell announced that he is stepping down as head coach of the varsity boy’s basketball team. 

Mitchell has been involved in the Berkeley sports scene for over three decades, coaching basketball and football and teaching physical education classes at Berkeley High School. He is in his 34th year of teaching at either the junior high or high school level. 

“I had been coaching in the district for about 33 or 34 years and it was time for me to take some time off and do some things myself: be able to go and play golf, be able to travel some,” he said. 

Mitchell began his reign as head coach of the boy’s basketball team in 1980 and coached through this season, except for three years he took off from 1994 to 1996. He also coached the girl’s varsity basketball team for five years. 

“He brought a great deal of basketball knowledge and basketball experience over the years,” Co-Athletic Director Karen Smith said. “Plus, being an on-campus coach he was easily accessible to all the students, which is great in a high school setting.” 

An upbeat, cheerful man, Mitchell enjoys being around students and does not plan on leaving high school athletics entirely. He will continue teaching physical education classes at Berkeley High. 

“I want to have fun and I like to see the smiles coming from my students’ faces,” he said. 

Mitchell said that coaching became very time consuming and that while it was fun teaching his players the game, it had become a nonstop job. 

“When you are coaching, it used to be that you do seasonal sports,” he said. “Now it has gotten to a point where once the actual season is over, you have to get involved in the camps, take the players different places so they can bond together as a unit, and all kinds of things. You just need some R and R every once in a while. It’s just human.” 

During an era when there is so much pressure to win and for teenagers to become millionaire sports stars, Mitchell has remained a throwback to the times when sports were all about having a good time. 

“I played football, basketball, baseball in high school,” Mitchell said. “I was all-district, all-city, all-state, and I didn’t do it because I thought I was good, I did it because I liked it.” 

He keeps that philosophy when it comes to coaching. 

Berkeley High basketball teams under Mitchell have won numerous league titles. One team even reached the state semifinals in the early 1980s. The boy’s basketball team has won the East Bay Athletic League title the last two years, compiling a 26-2 combined record. 

Mitchell has also seen many of his players receive scholarships to play college basketball, and even some have reached the professional level. However, he has always been more interested in seeing his students succeed in academics, rather than athletics. 

“All too often people put too much emphasis on athletics and not academics, and my thing has always been academics first,” Mitchell said. 

Mitchell’s successor has not yet been chosen, but Smith said the athletic department hopes to hire a coach by the end of the school year.