New Fresno Pacific coach C.J. Haydock takes ‘atypical path’ to lifelong goal

The challenge for C.J. Haydock couldn’t be more shear.

On the day before his formal introduction as Fresno Pacific men’s basketball coach, Haydock went in for a haircut.

Settling into the barber’s chair in his sweat pants, Haydock got asked what he did for a living.

“I coach college basketball,” he replied.

“Oh, where?” the female barber asked.

“Fresno Pacific.”

“Where?” she repeated.

Telling the story a couple of hours later in the Sunbirds’ team room, Haydock grinned and gestured with his hands, which he does a lot.

“She had no clue. You know what I mean?” Haydock said. “And we get that. There’s a very intentional marketing-branding thing that we have to work diligently at.

“I mean, she had no idea.”

Even though Fresno Pacific has been playing men’s basketball since 1955, and now at the NCAA Division II level, mainstream recognition remains a struggle for the private, Christian liberal arts college situated in a leafy nook of southeast Fresno.

It’s a challenge Haydock wholeheartedly embraces while becoming a college basketball coach at the ripe old age of 30.

Less than a year ago, Haydock surprised many in local basketball circles by leaving a loaded roster at Division IV power Immanuel High School for an assistant’s job at Fresno Pacific under first-year coach Tim Kisner. Haydock went 70-47 at Immanuel, including a 30-3 record in his final season and back-to-back Central Section titles.

Following Kisner’s surprising resignation in March, Haydock became interim head coach. Fresno Pacific reformed its search committee, sifting through 57 new applicants and many of the 110 it received the year previously, before selecting the on-campus candidate.

“He’s the best fit for us, plain and simple,” said Athletic Director Aaron Henderson, whose two-year tenure as Immanuel AD overlapped Haydock’s four as boys basketball coach. “He’s the guy who’s going to help lead us into a new era.”

The guy Fresno Pacific picked is a pastor’s son who moved here from the Central Coast at age 10 and immediately fell into the little hoopsters program at Clovis High.

Haydock took one look at then-Cougars coach Brandon Bakke, fresh off his Fresno State playing career, and saw his future.

“I can remember having the time of my life and thinking in a very adolescent way, ‘I want to be Brandon Bakke one day,’ ” Haydock said.

“Brandon was young. … He had this charisma about him and it was just one of those things. I think I even recognized it at that young age that I wanted to be around this game longer than my ability will allow me to. I had that realization pretty early.”

Haydock attended his last three years of high school at Fresno Christian, where he played basketball and spent much of his time thinking about it. During Mr. Tong’s Algebra II class, he’d doodle plays and exchange them with teammate and fellow aspiring coach Josh Justin.

Some of the plays they drew up were presented to Eagles coach Chris Schultz, who chuckled at the memory.

“C.J. always had lots of thoughts about what we should be doing on the basketball court,” Schultz said. “As a 17-, 18-year-old, some of his ideas were OK; some of them were not. But what stood out was how much he cared about the team’s success.”

Haydock’s rise up the coaching ranks has been swift – seven years to go from JV assistant at Fresno Christian to varsity coach at Immanuel in 2011.

Inheriting a 4-23 team, Haydock built a small-school powerhouse that climbed to No. 1 in the state rankings thanks largely to a sudden influx of transfers headed by Tulane-bound guard Colin Slater.

“I had no discontent at Immanuel at all. I had a really good experience,” Haydock said. “But I’ve always wanted to be a college basketball coach, and you have to be very intentional if you want to make that jump. Those opportunities come very, very rarely.”

When he arrived at Fresno Pacific as Kisner’s lead assistant 11 months ago, Haydock never thought he’d get promoted to head coach so soon – if ever.

“Beyond my absolute wildest dreams,” he said. “I’m painfully aware that I’m not supposed to be sitting in this seat. But I’m unbelievably grateful that I am.”

When talking about his plans for the Sunbirds, Haydock sounds more like an economist than a coach.

He talks about “adding value” to the lives of his players, “adding value” to the university and “adding value” to the Fresno basketball community by becoming more ingrained within it.

Haydock plans to target local recruits, both high school and community college. For the first time, Fresno Pacific will host a team camp for area high schools, inviting “as many teams as our dinky gym can host.”

“If you are fixated on adding value to all the different stakeholders,” he said, “and you just pound the nail and are faithful, faithful, faithful, then you’re bound to see dividends.”

Such as not getting such a blank stare at the barber’s shop.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 3:52 PM with the headline "New Fresno Pacific coach C.J. Haydock takes ‘atypical path’ to lifelong goal."