D.J. Seeley and Modesto Christian

D.J. Seeley was expected to help Tokay challenge for a section championship next year — then he transferred to a private basketball powerhouse. (News-Sentinel file photo)

D.J. Seeley and Modesto Christian

Abruptly, a basketball star at Tokay High transferred to a little school in Modesto with a knack for winning state championships. Why did D.J. Seeley leave - and how did a likable former tractor salesman build one of the most successful and controversial basketball programs in the valley?

By Ted Mero
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, March 31, 2007 8:48 AM PDT

Comments (24 comment(s))

When Gary Porter was hired as head coach of the Modesto Christian boys basketball team, he didn't exactly have the resume of a man destined to turn the program into a perennial powerhouse.

D.J. Seeley

While he was a successful point guard at Modesto's Central Catholic High School and Cal State Bakersfield, he'd only had one year of head-coaching experience, when he ran Central Catholic's varsity team in 1978.

The man who sold tractors for Ford didn't pick up a consistent coaching gig until his oldest son joined the Modesto Slam N' Jam AAU team as a fourth grader. A few years later, after turning down the job twice, Porter took over the MC basketball program.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The coach brought a rare blend of passion and kindness to the program so magnetic that talented coaches and athletes couldn't help but be drawn into what's become the Valley's epicenter of high school basketball. But the program's success hasn't been absent of questions and resentment from outsiders, wondering just how perfect and squeaky-clean it truly is in Porter's domain.

Prior to the 1996-97 season, in came Porter and his one year of head-coaching experience. In came his fellow Slam N' Jam coaches and a talented quartet of freshmen from that team. And in came junior transfer Jairol Redd, at his fifth high school in three years, who along with his freshman brother Clarence Denny was welcomed into the Porter home, where the coach took guardianship of the brothers for the second time in their lives.

On the heels of a four-win season, Modesto Christian went 33-0 and won the Division V state championship.

In Porter's 11 seasons at MC, the Crusaders have won 10 section titles, four Northern California championships and two state titles. They've watched 11 players earn Division I basketball scholarships — highlighted by former Kentucky star Chuck Hayes, now a starting forward for the Houston Rockets — and a slew of others earn free rides to D-II and D-III schools.

While he might not be considered the game's greatest tactician, there's no questioning Porter's assets.

"He'll be the first to tell you he's not best X's and O's basketball coach out there," said Will DeBoard, a Modesto Bee sports reporter for the last 15 years. "But a lot of kids like him. He does a very good job handling that talent."

Thanks to that reputation and tradition, college coaches all over the country have Porter's number on speed dial.

And, academics aside, one can only assume that D.J. Seeley transferred to MC from Tokay High, a successful basketball school in its own right, for those same reasons.

Success breeds suspicion

Seeley is the 6-foot-4 guard who helped lead Tokay to its first section title in 2006. He averaged more than 25 points per game as a junior. And he might be the most gifted basketball player to ever come through Lodi.

But now he's gone.

New rule could send Seeley back

Just because Tokay High hoops star D.J. Seeley is enrolled at Modesto Christian doesn't mean he'll be eligible to play for the school's basketball team next season.

On May 4, all 10 of the CIF section members will have a statewide vote on a new transfer eligibility rule. Should the rule pass — and Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Pete Saco firmly believes it will, despite the fact that the Sac-Joaquin Section will vote against it — all student transfers (with the exception of freshmen, who can transfer without penalty) must prove a hardship to avoid one year of athletic ineligibility.

To prove a hardship, there must be evidence of an unforeseeable, unavoidable and/or uncorrectable circumstance that necessitated the transfer. (The current transfer rule varies from section to section and the Sac-Joaquin Section presently institutes a 30-day ineligibility rule for those without a hardship.)

Whether or not the new rule would impact Seeley remains to be seen. But even if it doesn't, the fact that his father, who lives in Modesto, only recently gained custody and that his mother still lives in the Lodi area, D.J. Seeley's move is not viewed as a bona fide change of residence.

Seeley's father has said that all rules have been followed and that he'll take the case to court if need be. However, the new transfer rule could make his case irrelevant.

Should Seeley's mother remain in the Lodi area, which appears likely, D.J. Seeley could always return to Tokay, where he'd be eligible to play basketball his senior season.

— News-Sentinel staff

By the numbers

A look at the Modesto Christian boys basketball team during coach Gary Porter's 11-year tenure:

Section titles: 10 (Two Division I, five D-V and three D- IV)

Norcal titles: 4

State titles: 2

NCAA Division I players: 11

The players

A look at the hoops stars who've come through Modesto Christian during coach Gary Porter's 11-year tenure and went on to earn Division I college scholarships. Harry Powell was a standout basketball player who ended up inking a football scholarship, while James Noel, a bench player for Modesto Christian, didn't play at the D-I level but is now playing professionally in the British Basketball League.

Name: Chris Armstrong
College: Sacramento State*
Hometown: Modesto

Name: Bobby Cole
College: Texas Southern
Hometown: Modesto

Name: Chuck Hayes
College: Kentucky
NBA team: Houston Rockets
Hometown: Modesto

Name: Liam Hughes
College: Oregon State
Hometown: Hullbridge, England

Name: Richard Midgley
College: California
Hometown: Burgess Hill, England

Name: James Noel
College: The Master's College
Pro team: Worcester Wolves
Hometown: London, England

Name: Adrian Oliver
College: Washington
Hometown: Modesto

Name: David Paris
College: California/Bowie State
Hometown: Modesto

Name: Michael Porter
College: Kentucky
Hometown: Modesto

Name: Harry Powell
College: Nevada (football)
Hometown: London, England

Name: Marc Pratt
College: Boise State/Towson State
Hometown: London, England

Name: Nick Tabari
College: Sacramento State*
Hometown: Tracy

Name: Luiz de Toledo
College: BYU*
Hometown: Araraquara, Brazil

*Never played for the university. (Luiz de Toledo is playing professionally in Brazil.)

He enrolled at MC nearly a month ago — his father, Dennis Seeley, citing D.J.'s struggling grades at Tokay and a need for more one-on-one academic attention for the move.

"D.J.'s GPA went from a 3.0 at the beginning of basketball season to a 2.3 at the end," Dennis Seeley told the Modesto Bee earlier this month. "I wanted to change his environment. It was time for Dad to step in."

But a transfer in the middle of the spring semester has raised red flags at the Sac-Joaquin Section office — especially since rumors had been floating about Seeley's potential transfer since December.

More eyebrows raised this past Tuesday when Ripon Christian girls hoops star Jessica Graham enrolled at MC. Her parents told the Modesto Bee the move will better prepare her for college basketball — a comment that blatantly disregards the rule prohibiting student transfer for athletic purposes. And Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Pete Saco is left scratching his head.

"I'm at a loss as to why students are transferring there in the middle of the semester," Saco said. "Academically that makes no sense."

It also makes no sense to Saco why MC, with a student enrollment just over 300, has been able to maintain its basketball dominance for so long, not only plucking top-flight talent in the Modesto area, but internationally as well.

The section commissioner has no evidence of foul play. The only investigation during Porter's tenure occurred over a dispute about whether England imports Richard Midgley and Marc Pratt had an additional year of playing eligibility (After two years at MC, the duo believed they had a final year remaining, but the section was able to show through court documents and transcripts that they were the equivalent of college sophomores. Midgley and Pratt finished out the school year — only allowed to participate in practice — before earning basketball scholarships to California and Boise State, respectively).

As far as Saco can tell, MC is following the rules to a "T." But he still has concerns.

"I don't want to call this flat-out recruiting," Saco said. "(Athletic Director Greg Pearce) is a nice guy and I have no problems with Gary Porter; my bigger concern is their general community.

"This has nothing to with Gary or Greg. There's parents in that community that I basically don't trust. I don't know if they're doing all the leg work and pulling all the strings."

Attempts to reach Dennis and D.J. Seeley, and D.J.'s mother Doratha Young, for this story were unsuccessful. MC's tuition for a first-year student, such as Seeley, is $7,200 per year. The school doesn't provide athletic scholarships — or any scholarships for that matter — but does offer financial aid on the basis of need. But even then, it isn't the full amount.

"If I've done anything wrong," said Porter of his time at MC, "it's out of ignorance. This program is totally clean. I get accused of recruiting all the time. I get accused of recruiting D.J."

Said Pearce, the school's AD: "We get accused of scholarshiping kids. But Porter's had three kids here and paid tuition for all of them. If anyone was going to get a scholarship here, you'd think it would be them.

"Since I've been here, we've had a great rapport with our section. There's always that misnomer that private schools are successful because they recruited, and those private schools who aren't very good are bad recruiters. But I think there's as much recruiting at public schools as private. My kids, who were good soccer players, were recruited by multiple public schools."

The program's appeal

So why would half a dozen players come to MC from England?

College scholarships.

If players like Midgley and Pratt were going to make it into NCAA basketball, they needed to come to the United States to showcase their skills. And once they earned scholarships, other English players wanted to come to MC.

Locally, players like Chuck Hayes have helped MC gain a reputation for producing top basketball talent, and dozens of college coaches are aware of that fact.

So are parents.

"They're a high-profile program and parents want to send their kids there," Cal-Hi Sports editor Mark Tennis said. "It's sort of like, if you build it, they will come."

And come they have.

Garry Porter is the architect of Modesto Christian's basketball success. (Courtesy photo)

Mack McDermott, the Tokay coach who watched MC's prestige and reputation lure away his star player, has no ill will toward the school.

"The administration hasn't doesn't anything wrong," said McDermott, who also coaches Seeley on the AAU Bay Area Hoosiers. "I love coach Porter and I get along with (Pearce) really well.

"But I'm a traditionalist. I'm loyal and think wherever you start you should stay. But in this day in age with players going from team to team, that's just the way of the world."

And in Porter's world, there aren't many high school coaches who can compete.

Porter, who turned 53 today, doesn't like to brag that Tubby Smith is a friend of his, or that in the next couple of months coaches from UCLA, Georgetown, Kansas and dozens of other schools will come to Modesto just to watch his team practice — it's simply the truth.

"Because of the kids that have come through here, we've established a good rapport with colleges," Porter said. "When they come to Modesto, they're coming to our school and specifically coming to watch our kids. And they come to watch the younger kids and ask who might be the next Chuck Hayes.

"In reality, D.J. doesn't have to play for the Hoosiers to be seen. (Sophomore standout Reeves Nelson) doesn't have to play for Pump N' Run in L.A."

Apparently, the amiable tractor salesman and his small-school basketball program are enough.

Reader Feedback

coach PJ wrote on Apr 6, 2007 4:20 PM:

" No not at all!! Never did I say that, DID I? Do not ASS-U-ME anything! WOW....That must be odd for a NO NAMER to stir up the pot! All I am saying is all you people who are just jealous of what DJ is doing need to get a life!! Why worry about something you cannot control.....I know because you are just JEALOUS!!!! "

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