Editor’s note: This article originally incorrectly stated that Tre Johnson won Gatorade Player of the Year. He won SBLive Sports’ National Player of the Year in 2023, not Gatorade Player of the Year.
Photography by Brandon Gonzalez
Family. Work Ethic. Enthusiasm. Accountability. Appreciation.
These are the five “core values” that Lake Highlands High School Head Basketball Coach Joe Duffield has built his program around since stepping into the role in 2016. Since then, the Wildcats have made the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. Most notably, he led a squad headlined by top recruit Tre Johnson to a State Championship in 2023.
Duffield was born in Chicago but bounced around a good amount before ending up at Plano East Senior High School. Coaching piqued his interest while volunteering during his undergraduate years at Santa Clara University. Early in his career, the coach made a stop at LHHS under Head Coach Rob Wylie before heading off to his previous job as head coach at Vista Ridge High School in Austin.
Now going into his eighth season at the helm, Duffield is looking to build on the cultural foundation he’s created at LHHS. His team is going to play fast. They’re going to play hard-nosed defense. But most of all, he wants them to be unselfish.
As the Wildcats’ district slate gets underway, we caught up with the coach to find out more about his background, the culture he’s created and his vision for the 2024-25 season.
What sticks out to you from your days playing basketball?
Just the journey. The sort of life lessons the game teaches you — perseverance, hard work, how to be a part of a team, how to be a part of something bigger than yourself. I think those are all things that I carried with me from those athletic experiences that helped me just be a better person and get through things as an adult. And partly, probably a big reason why I’m a coach now is trying to share some of those same life lessons and just help people through the game of basketball.
Did you have any idea you would want to coach?
I kind of thought I wanted to go to law school and to be an attorney. That was kind of something I thought about in high school and early in college, but then I was doing some volunteer coaching on the side, and I just have always had a real passion for the game of basketball, I love to watch it, love to play it, and just love to be in the gym and around the game. And so later on in college, I started thinking about getting into coaching.
How was your first stint at LHHS?
I was here coaching basketball and football, and part of a great staff. You know, guys like Scott Smith, who was the head football coach. Lonnie Jordan was the offensive coordinator, Jeff Smith was the defensive coordinator, both who are now athletic directors of big school districts. A lot of other great coaches on that staff and then the basketball staff was awesome too. I learned a lot from Rob Wylie, who was the head basketball coach here at the time. Just a great basketball mind. Always learning new things. Always adapting with the game and in really good with practice and players and just how he treated people. I learned a lot in those three years here, a lot of those coaches I looked up to, and were great role models and examples for me. And then after that, I really wanted to try to get a head coaching job, and I thought I’d have a better chance in Austin.
Did you have any idea that you would wind up back here?
We bought our first home here. Just loved the school, the community, the diversity and we always felt like it would be a good place to raise kids, but also had ambitions and goals as a coach to try to become a head coach one day. Didn’t think it would work out the way it did, but always knew this was a great job, and we had really poured ourselves into things down in Austin at Vista Ridge, and had kind of built something special down there. And so when the opportunity to come back came up, it was kind of hard to leave at that time, but this is also a place I knew was really special.
Coming in, what kind of culture did you want to create here?
I really want our kids to buy into having a family atmosphere within the team and that’s something we’re big on, and we try to show them what that looks like on the court or in life through the game. So that was a big thing. You know, our other core values are super important to us. Work ethic, enthusiasm, accountability and appreciation. Those are our five.
What does that look like?
When official practice starts, we pick a core value for the day. The first practice of the year is always going to be family. So we put a number on the board — we usually start with 20 — and we’ll put it up on visitor fouls. And as the practice goes on, when players do something that fits into that family core value, we take that number down. So, to me, family is about sacrifice. Family is about being there for somebody when they really need you, having somebody’s back. We want our kids to understand what that looks like on the court, and so to me, that’s taking a charge. That’s a big sacrifice. You’re sacrificing your body for the team. Could be a big change in momentum play, diving on the floor for a loose ball, all four guys sprinting over to help a guy up.
Tell me about your State Championship run.
It was really special, kind of surreal as it was going on. My staff was so amazing, and assistant coaches, just our relationships and everything we had been through up to that point, seeing that big dream realized and then those kids on that team. I mean, they really bought into what we were trying to be about. And they loved playing for the school and this community, and to see our community rally behind that team. I think they rallied behind them because they played the game the right way. They truly loved and cared about each other, and you could see that when you watched them play. Those kids deserved it, they worked their tails off. I think a lot of people see kids, and they just think they’re talented, but every one of those kids on that team put in so much work every day and time after practice, time on the weekends, time away from here, working on their game and trying to be great.
What should we expect from this year’s squad?
I think you’re going to kind of see the same things from this team that you’ve seen year in and year out. They’re going to be scrappy, they’re going to play really hard, they’re going to play an exciting style of basketball. They’re going to get up and down. We have a good mix of old players and some young, exciting players that are coming up. So I think it’s going to be a really fun season. I like where we’re at right now, and I have a good feeling about this, I think this team is going to be a team that’s going to get better as the year goes on. And I think our freshman class has a chance to be really special. There’s a lot of kids in that class that have played high-level basketball.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
