BOB JUDSON, Special to the Standard-Examiner

LAYTON — Tony Caputo was teaching his world history class when he got word that Northridge High boys basketball head coach Andrew Olson had resigned for health reasons.

Caputo was an assistant coach for the struggling Knights, along with retired legendary coach Jay Welk, and was thrust into the head coaching role due to his ties with the school.

“I couldn’t believe it … not really something I was interested in. I was happy being an assistant coach. Thank goodness I had Jay. We’ll do it together,” Caputo said. “I kind of got volunteered, but Coach Olson had had military duties over the years during the summer and I’d always stepped in. I would never have left this team without a coach.”

After a steep learning curve for both coaches and players, how Northridge overcame a difficult preseason schedule and finished a strong second place in Region 5 deserves a deeper dive.

Caputo was on Welk’s staff at Davis in 1991-92 and had a long-term relationship with the veteran coach, but Welk was on vacation in California when Olson stepped down.

BOB JUDSON, Special to the Standard-Examiner

So, Northridge held one practice Thursday afternoon with Caputo flying solo, then faced rival Layton at home the next night.

Layton’s Sam Romer hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the Lancers (now 21-1) to win by two, and Northridge fell to 0-4 on the season.

Things didn’t get much better for the Knights. They stood at 1-8 after their pre-region schedule heading into the new year, with Caputo and Welk owning 1-5 of that.

“One of the first things we said is we’re not Coach Olson … we are who we are. We didn’t make massive changes … they just didn’t have the confidence in themselves, but it was starting to build,” Welk said. “They’re very skilled players. I would take this talent level at any of my teams at Davis.”

Northridge continued to compete but kept coming up short in close games, including an overtime heartbreaker to Provo after the Layton loss and a one-possession defeat against Logan that came down to the last shot in late December.

BOB JUDSON, Special to the Standard-Examiner

“If you look at the scores of those games, we’re there; every game but two or three, we’re right there,” Northridge co-captain Bentley Whitear said. “We all believed we were good. We all knew we were good.”

The only win during that streak was a victory against Judge Memorial, but it lit a spark that finally got the Knights going in the right direction.

“Once we beat Judge, we knew we could beat anybody,” Northridge senior co-captain Logan Birt said. “As soon as region started, we were ready to play. Region is different; it’s who wants it more.”

Region 5 play began Jan. 3 and the Knights’ season turned around with a dominant win over Clearfield. They have been 9-4 since the first of the year, with Friday’s regular-season finale played after this writing.

“Pre-region was a really tough schedule; the beginning of region is a different feel, I guess. Region really matters to us. Farther into the season, it got better,” Whitear said. “Our two goals this season were: go deep in the tournament, deeper than we have in a long time, and win region. We came close.”

BOB JUDSON, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Timing and some good fortune have helped the Knight’s resurgence in 2024.

“We had some injuries; Peyton Perkins was injured. Zach Smith and Canyon Dugger didn’t really start playing until the region season for the most part,” Caputo said. “Got some guys healthy. That helped a lot. The continuity of figuring out what we’re going to run — I scaled back the playbook a little bit; work on running less stuff and running it better. Jay coached the defense and ramped up the intensity. Just a gradual process, really.”

The experience Caputo and Welk bring to the table has not been lost on the players. Caputo has coached at the college and high school levels for 43 years and Welk may best be known for his career of more than 500 games at Davis, leading the Darts boys to one state title and 351 wins from 1990-2014.

“Coach Caputo and Coach Welk were both here last year, both very smart guys. They have coached longer than I have been alive, even longer than my parents have been alive,” Whitear said. “They know the game. We went from Coach Olson’s program right into Coach Caputo’s and Coach Welk’s program with some of the same philosophies. They know what they like. They know what we like.”

Still, Caputo called upon some famous Knights in shining armor to address the team, including former successful Northridge football coach Fred Fernandes and former NFL player Colby Bockwoldt.

“We wanted to breed that tradition and have the kids see that, not just from a basketball standpoint but the standpoint of accomplished people … here’s the things they learned in athletics and this is what helps them now in their lives, business, personal and family life,” Caputo said.

“We had a speaker (Fernandes) come in and talk to us about how to love each other,” Northridge senior center De’Qoune Kennedy said. “We decided it was more like a wake-up call … (Bockwoldt) talked about how to get more fight in us, not let people attack us.”

That helped carry the Knights forward as they swept Roy and Box Elder in region action and took league champion Bountiful to overtime last week.

Thus, the calendar flipped from December to January and the Northridge performance on the court also turned over.

“I made a big deal about that,” Caputo said. “It was 2024; 2023 was not our year but that was over. We’re going into this region season with a fresh start.”

There is an old saying about taking it one game at a time and, with some old-time coaches, the Knights have adopted that mantra.

“Don’t think ahead. Just 1-0 each game. We can’t do anything about the past and can’t do that much toward the future, except what we’re doing tonight,” Birt said. “We fight every game. We’re going to keep pushing no matter what happens.”

That philosophy has brought buy-in from players owning their roles, with defense as the emphasis. Whitear said he and Birt lead conversations about what the team and each player can work on.

“It’s a different view — from players instead of coaches,” Whitear said.

Whitear leads the Knights in scoring with nearly 18 points per game but says he isn’t consumed by the stats. Birt agreed.

“Not everybody has to be the leading scorer on the team,” Birt said. “(Whitear and me) try to be role models for everybody. Lead by example and try to help out in whatever way we can; get the job done.”

Kennedy, for example, said his role is to attack the glass on both ends.

Caputo explained his general approach to the game this way:

“We want shots. Our shots, team shots. Don’t force it, we are moving the ball … we’ve seen our shooting percentages come up quite a bit,” he said. “Take care of the ball.”

“There’s been a lot of learning how to play the game this year,” Welk said. “We’ve become a family. Resilient.”

The Knights held an early practice Monday, then took a break from basketball for an afternoon of bowling, getting in some team bonding before the one-and-done rigors of the 5A state tournament next week. Northridge learns its bracket landing spot Saturday morning.

As for Welk and Caputo, the longtime friends plan to call it a coaching career when the Knights’ run ends, however long it goes.

“I’m 65 and it’s time to get out. But we do it because of these young people,” Welk said. “This is an outstanding group of young men, top to bottom. I was fortunate at Davis, but Northridge has been equally as great.”

Caputo has two more years teaching at Northridge but doesn’t anticipate another desperate call to coach like the one he got this year.

“I’ve been coaching for 43 years and been married 38. I asked my wife to hang in there and support me on this one last time and she’s been great,” Caputo said. “Our team got the fresh start and made the best of it. Other coaches have complimented me on how this team battles to the end.”

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