Education of a coach: Charlotte 49ers’ Ron Sanchez continues to grow into his job

The question came to coach Ron Sanchez moments after his Charlotte 49ers had beaten Middle Tennessee 68-62 in Halton Arena in early January.

The victory — during which the 49ers had survived a frantic Blue Raiders comeback in the second half — boosted Charlotte’s record to 8-5. The 49ers had already matched their victory total from the entire 2018-19 season, Sanchez’s first with the program.

“A win is a win,” the reporter began. “This was probably not the prettiest win …”

Sanchez halted the questioner in mid-sentence.

“Stop saying that!” Sanchez scolded. “Every win is pretty, especially in this building, OK? It’s not that it’s the prettiest or the sexiest. It’s not a sexy win? I don’t want to hear any of those questions any more. Every ‘W’ for this team is a good win.”

With that, Sanchez resumed his postgame press conference in his usual congenial, mild-mannered style.

But he had made his point: These 49ers were no longer a team to be trifled with. For a program starved for victories in men’s basketball over the last several seasons, they’re going to take them however they come and not apologize.

“Ron’s vision is clear,” said former coach Dick Bennett, who gave Sanchez his first job as director of basketball operations at Washington State in 2003. “He knows what road he wants to take and how to get there.”

That road runs this week through Frisco, Texas, where Sanchez’s 49ers are playing in the Conference USA tournament. Fourth-seed Charlotte (16-13) has a first-round bye and will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 5 Florida International and No. 12 Rice at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

That Charlotte is even in the conference tournament shows how far the 49ers have come in such a short time under Sanchez.

Sanchez, 46, came to Charlotte in 2018 to turn around a program that had been in a decade-long slump. The 49ers’ fifth coach since 2010, Sanchez spent 12 seasons as an assistant to Dick Bennett’s son Tony Bennett, helping turn around programs at Washington State (2006-09) and Virginia (2009-18).

At Charlotte, he inherited a program that had no identifiable culture and was lacking in Division I talent.

But after going a predictable 8-21 last season (and failing to qualify for the 12-team league tournament for a second consecutive year), there are tangible signs that Sanchez’s rebuilding effort is taking hold. It didn’t take long for athletics director Mike Hill to show confidence in Sanchez, either. He quietly extended Sanchez’s original five-year contract by two years after last season.

With talented players like junior guard Jordan Shepherd, C-USA freshman-of-the-year Jahmir Young and steadying influences in grad transfers Drew Edwards and Amidou Bamba, the 49ers have clinched their first winning season since 2013-14. They posted significant non-conference victories against Davidson and Wake Forest and went on to win a record 13 games at Halton Arena.

“I think he’s grown in so many ways,” said Shepherd, who sat out last season after transferring from Oklahoma. “One of the reasons I came to this program was because he said we could grow together. We both came here from high-major programs, that’s something we talked about. Let’s do this together; let’s grow together.”

The growth can come in different forms and at different times. Shepherd, for instance, said Sanchez has quickly learned how important patience is for a head coach. Sanchez agreed.

“Look, players don’t miss shots on purpose,” Sanchez said. “They don’t have defensive breakdowns on purpose. They learn, they’re growing. I came from (Virginia), where guys had been together for four years. They had spent so much time together. My ignorance as a young head coach was to think you could take young guys and have them (get) there in four months.

“That’s ambitious and I still want that. But I understand much better now that it takes time.”

And when they don’t sometimes grasp what it is he’s trying to teach, Sanchez can now see that might be on him, not the players.

“If they don’t succeed, I don’t blame them,” Sanchez said. “If they’re not learning, it’s not the student. The instructor has to look at himself. We’re very honest with ourselves. Are we teaching the right way? Maybe they learn in a different way and we have to find a different way to teach. That’s also part of the journey.”

Much of Charlotte’s success can be attributed to the “pack” defense that Sanchez brought from Washington State and Virginia. The defense was the brainchild of Dick Bennett, and it’s been carried on by son Tony at Virginia (which won last season’s NCAA championship) and now at Charlotte with Sanchez.

The 49ers defense limits opponents to 64.7 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting. Charlotte is among the Conference USA leaders in defensive rebounding (31.4 per game), blocked shots (3.4) and steals (7.6).

“He’s pretty committed to the defensive approach,” said Dick Bennett, who won 487 career games at Washington State, Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Green Bay and Wisconsin. “He probably knows it better than I do, these days.”

Dick and Tony Bennett are among a small group of people that Sanchez routinely calls for advice.

“It’s usually something specific,” Dick Bennett said. “It’s usually dealing with a circumstance; how to deal with a success or a failure. That would probably fall under the heading of motivation. But a lot of it could be on philosophy.”

As Sanchez’s response to the press conference question in January hints at, he’s relishing his team’s success this season and doesn’t mind saying so. During his first season, he often talked about how the team might be making progress, even when there were few tangible results (i.e., victories) to show for it.

That’s changed this season. Sanchez has enjoyed talking about playing meaningful games in March.

“He’s earned that, because sometimes it seems like it’s ‘coach speak’ when you say you’re improving in ways you don’t see, but it will someday pay off,” Bennett said. “You have to really have the belief and it takes some strength of character, because you can see people rolling their eyes when you say that.

“But Ron knows what he knows. For him to say that, it meant it was there. Now it’s being seen by others.”

Sanchez sat in his office late last Wednesday night after the 49ers beat regular-season champion North Texas for their record-setting 13th victory at Halton. The office had a different look. Sanchez has had the furniture moved around and updated from what his predecessors had.

“To have 13 wins in this building, to set that record, that’s a big step,” Sanchez said. “At this point of the season last year, we had five wins in the conference. We pay attention to that.

“(They players) need that encouragement. I need that encouragement. I need to see what I’m doing right, that I’m doing things correctly. We’re building things the right way and bringing in the right kinds of kids so we can keep stacking on top of that.”

Charlotte vs. FIU/Rice

What: Conference USA tournament quarterfinals

When: 7:30 p.m., Thursday

Where: Ford Center, Frisco, Texas

Watch: Stadium Facebook

Listen: 730-AM