Mick Battaglini

 Call him a throwback.
 A coach who stressed defense first, believed in the team concept.
 Mick Battaglini spent 22 years as the Alisal girls basketball coach.
 Only one other current girls basketball coach in the county has been in one place for more than 10 years.
 Never one to hide his emotions, Battaglini logged a lot of miles pacing from one end of the coaches' box to the other over two-plus decades.
 If he jumped on a player for a mistake, he was quick to apply a shot of confidence along with it.
 Battaglini got more out of the talent handed to him then he probably should have.
 The former Carmel High sharpshooter did something at Alisal that had never been achieved in girls basketball.
 He won a league title in 1997. Then the Trojans won another in 2005, when they went 10-0 in the Monterey Bay League.
 As for wins.
 Battaglini didn't keep track, although we know it's well over 200.
 It was never about him. Rather it was about teaching the game and building character among his players.
 Well done coach.