Open Mike Column: Domzalski puts team before milestone

Earlier this season, longtime boys basketball coach Gary Domzalski accomplished a major coaching milestone but maybe just as much of an impressive feat was keeping it quiet so not to deflect the focus from his team.

Without fanfare or acknowledgment, the 26th-year head coach of Frontier earned his 300th win while with the program during a thrilling 49-45 victory over Williamsville North back on Jan. 20.

I was there to cover that game and spoke with Domzalski afterward but all he uttered was a heaping of praise for his team while exuding pride in his players’ resiliency to come-from-behind to pull out a game Frontier trailed throughout. The Falcons continued on a four-game winning streak, which included two more victories after the one over North, but still no news of the special accomplishment.

Finally, at the beginning of last week, my phone at work rang and I was told the big news, forming the plan for this column. It wasn’t until the seventh game of the current win streak — Monday (Feb. 13) at Orchard Park, that the milestone was mentioned while I was present in front of Domzalski by his assistant, Ryan Collins. Still, the head coach brushed it away like yesterday’s news, focusing on his team and players first.

Of course, that’s just how Domzalski would prefer it to be. He has no desire to take the limelight away from his team and become the center of attention. He’d probably be against this column being written, but his accomplishments and those of this year’s team should not be ignored.

In these days of self promotion in sports, Domzalski is such a refreshing figure. He’s not only engaging and approachable, which by the way has made him a sports editor favorite at The Sun for years, but he’s someone who has put his team first over three decades of coaching and that alone is a great career achievement.

This year, he has got the type of team that makes it even easier for a coach to forget his personal accomplishments. One of the biggest surprises in all of Western New York high school basketball, the Falcons are 13-3 and in second place in ECIC Division I with two games left in the regular season.

With a cast that includes a handful of last year’s role players who have become standouts and true leaders and a group of junior varsity players stepping into larger roles, Frontier is on its way to its best season since three 6-foot-4 forwards and an all-division returning guard led the team to a 17-5 mark and Class AA semifinal run in 2007-08.

Domzalski is putting all he has into this group and its season and is getting back just as much in return.

He talks about his team being like an iceberg with players such as seniors Matt Taylor, Alex Warren and Remy Heil being the tip and the role players and those coming off the bench forming the foundation.

That couldn’t be more the case than in last week’s come-from behind 52-51 win over division-leading Jamestown, a team that had beaten the Falcons soundly 87-41 the first time they met this season.

It took a true team effort all the way through to knock off one of Western New York’s premier programs in Jamestown. The win was made just that much sweeter considering that Jamestown has been such a thorn in the side of Frontier, knocking off the Falcons in a sectional final and in two semifinals since 1999.

“These guys really embody the word ‘team,’” said Domzalski. who began as a head coach at Cardinal O’ Hara and adding his time there, has now racked up 376 career wins.

“It’s such a great feeling to sit on the bench with seven guys who care so much about the guys on the floor and when the guys on the floor look over and see those guys going crazy it really elevates their game and makes them play harder. It’s very difficult in this day and age to get that kind of team. I’m lucky enough to have these kids.”

Frontier may not be in the forefront of WNY high school basketball and Domzalski’s career may not be filled with sectional titles, but in my fifth year with The Sun, I’ve never seen a big game that his teams couldn’t handle. His squads always seem to exhibit the pride and work ethic instilled by their head coach. Each of the past six seasons, Frontier has won at least one playoff game, even when going on the road as the lower seed. Since a two-win campaign in 2004-05, Frontier has had only one under .500 season.

Domzalski may be one of the last coaches to gloss over his work and would probably be the first to avoid counting his money before the end of the poker game, as he says, but it would have truly been a shame if this accomplishment went unnoticed.