Longtime Tampa Catholic head coach’s son joins staff for basketball team: ‘I am very blessed’

TAMPA, Fla - Tampa Catholic boys basketball Head Coach Don Dziagwa has had his fair share of experiences while coaching high school basketball.

He's seen so much in his 38 total years at TC, but this year, he is finally experiencing a first. 

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"It worked out really good for me," he said.

While the routine is the same with Don standing up courtside at Crusaders games, this season his son, Thomas, is on the bench as an assistant. 

Big picture view:

"Sometimes, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, right," Thomas Dziagwa said. 

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It's quite clear Thomas got the coaching bug from his dad.

"I learn every single day," Thomas Dziagwa said. "You don't get 700 wins without good players and good coaching."

Coaching alongside his son is a dream come true for Don. 

"I'm going to be honest with you, it is fantastic," Don Dziagwa said. "It really is something. I am really fortunate. One, he's a great coach, so it has made my job a lot easier. Then two, a lot of coaches spend a lot of time away from their families, but when he was growing up, it was neat that he was in the gym a lot and spent a lot of time here. Now, to have him back, as one of my assistant coaches, I am very blessed and very lucky."

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He's fortunate, because he never expected it, especially after Thomas played and even coached college ball and eventually took part in pro-ball overseas.

"I really thought he was going to go the college route and become a college coach," Don Dziagwa said.

However, after realizing how much time it takes to be a coach at the college level after spending some time at Saint Louis, Thomas knew coming back to Tampa Catholic made all the sense in the world. 

Dig deeper:

"I started to think, my dad is 70, my mom is getting older," Thomas Dziagwa said. "If I do this again for another 10-15 years, I am only going to spend, what, another year with my parents? I want to spend a lot more time with them."

It's not just about the father and son bonding time — the Dziagwa's plan on keeping up the winning TC tradition.

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"He's had a culture," Thomas Dziagwa said. "He's built that culture, and I follow that culture as well."

That culture is the most important thing and makes them sometimes forget they are father and son. 

What they're saying:

"It's kind of neat, to be honest with you, but I think once the game starts, I just look at him as one of the assistant coaches that I have," Don Dziagwa said. "I just think of him being another coach who is trying to help us play."

Thomas feels the same way once the ball is tipped, but on his drive home is when the appreciation sets in. 

"That's when it soaks in, like, ‘hey, you just spent a whole day working with your dad,’" Thomas Dziagwa said. "My wife is in the stands. My mom is at the scorer's table, so I am spending my time that is finite with the people you want to spend the most time with."

That family time is all Thomas has on his mind. 

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"I want to spend as much time with my family as I can, because you never know when God is going to call us back," Thomas Dziagwa said. 

What's next:

Thomas hopes that one day he gets the call to follow in his dad's footsteps as the head coach at Tampa Catholic.

"I would relish that opportunity," Thomas Dziagwa said. "I would enjoy that opportunity. A lot of people don't know, but my grandmother taught here. She was in the theology department. My mom graduated from here. My dad has been here for 38 years. All of our siblings went here. TC is through and through with me, so if I had the opportunity to be the head coach and take over the reins and fill in those big shoes, I would relish the opportunity to try and have an impact on the young men at Tampa Catholic."