Kelly Sopak’s time as Miramonte’s girls’ basketball coach helped him make the unusual jump straight to a head coaching job in Division 1. The former Orinda Association president and local insurance agent is returning to his alma mater, the University of Nevada, to take over the women’s basketball program.
Most people head off to college right after high school – Kelly Sopak is making the move at age 57.
Sopak, who has made his mark on Orinda since coming here in 2003, is returning to the University of Nevada, Reno, his alma mater, and leaving his adoptive home behind, just as many a college freshman will do this fall.
But Sopak, a legendary high school and club coach, won’t be paying to go to school – instead, he signed a five-year, $1.85 million contract to the Reno school’s women’s basketball coach.
Sopak has come a long way from his first, unpaid, coaching gig at Santa Maria. He taught his two daughters, Loren and Leah, the game, and was the Santa Maria athletic director for 10 years before devoting his basketball energies to Northgate High School and his club team, CalStars.
Next came his long run at Miramonte, highlighted by four years with Olympian and WNBA all-star Sabrina Ionescu, and a trip to the California Open Division championship game.
But the wins were only a part of the story.
“The number of players who went on to college was impressive,” he said, and like he himself, some never had to pay tuition. Sopak, though, didn’t play basketball at UNR – he was a baseball player until his arm gave out.
Categorizing Sopak as just a coach, though, misses much of his story. He went to Nevada from Bethel High School in Tacoma, and settled in Orinda with his wife Beverly after setting up a State Farm insurance agency in Albany.
And he and Beverly did not land in Orinda by accident.
“The number one reason we moved to Orinda was because it was the best school district in the area,” he said. Both daughters went to Glorietta and Miramonte, and the Sopak family’s roots run deep in the area.
In fact, Sopak joined the board of The Orinda Association, serving as president despite having a full-time job and overseeing a powerhouse, year-round basketball program.
“I viewed The Orinda Association and The Orinda News as the heartbeat of our city,” Sopak said. “What The OA does is remarkable, and I wanted to help.”
“The most altruistic thing The OA does is Seniors Around Town,” he said, “but my personal favorite is the Classic Car Show. I would bring a car or two every year,” usually a ’66 Mustang and a ’70 Chevelle.
“The most impressive event, though, is the 4th of July Parade,” he said. “There’s so much work that goes into it behind the scenes.”
And even though Sopak is heading off to the University of Nevada (again), like many college-bound Orinda residents, he wants to return home when his time there is up. In fact, he and wife are keeping their house in Orinda and have every intention of settling back into the city when he hangs up his whistle.
“This,” he said, “is our dream community.”
