Jason Flores is the second-winningest head coach in Fort Lewis College women’s basketball history, and if he has a similar amount of success at his next stop, a lot of local basketball fans will be very happy.
Flores, 53, coached the Skyhawks from 2012-2019 before stepping away from that role to become FLC’s assistant athletic director. He knew he’d miss coaching, but it was the right decision for his family at that time. After Durango High School girls basketball head coach Lauren Moran stepped away from that role after three seasons, Flores knew it would be a great opportunity, and Durango School District Athletic and Activities Director Ryan Knorr agreed.
The Demons girls basketball program will be led by Flores this winter.
“I’m excited,” Flores said. “When I left coaching … it was more of a family decision of me being gone all of the time … my kids were younger, and situations have changed professionally for me. I turned the job down last time … but I’ve always liked the feel of Durango High School being the community … I can’t wait for the school year to start, so we can really get going.”
Knorr knew Flores when Flores was coaching at FLC. Once Flores stepped away from coaching at FLC, he began coaching his daughters at the youth level and would rent out the gym at the high school, so Knorr and him would interact there.
During the interview process, Knorr was impressed with how Flores talked about building the Durango High School program from the youth level up. Eventually, those kids will play at a high level for Flores, understanding high-level basketball language and schematics, which will allow the Demons to compete at the top of the state. Flores’ hire was finalized in May.
“Jason definitely separated himself from any other contenders,” Knorr said. “The Durango basketball community didn’t hesitate to reach out to endorse him … His application came in, and then I got a couple of high-praise communications from community members just saying, ‘Hey, give him a shot.’ The reality was he was on my radar a bit, so it wasn’t a hard decision.”
Flores played high school basketball in Tucson, Arizona, but got into coaching because of injuries in his playing career, and he couldn’t get cleared to play in college. He began coaching as an assistant under Patty Patton Shearer for the Catalina Foothills High School girls basketball team in Tucson in 1995, the same year he graduated from the University of Arizona. Catalina had a lot of success when Flores was there, including winning the 1997 Arizona 4A state championship.
When Patton Shearer got the FLC women’s basketball job in 2000, Flores came along to be on her staff. Patton Shearer and Flores turned a 3-23 FLC team the year before their arrival into a 17-8 squad two years later. The Skyhawks then advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history in 2003-2004.
Flores was an assistant under Patton Shearer at the University of Nebraska Omaha from 2004-2012. Flores came back to FLC as the Skyhawks’ head coach in 2012 after Mark Kellogg became the most successful coach in program history with a .790 winning percentage.
The Skyhawks finished with a winning overall record and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference record in six out of Flores’ seven seasons. FLC went to the NCAA Tournament in his first season and had consecutive 20+ win seasons in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. Flores finished with a 123-75 head coaching record with the Skyhawks.
“He (Kellogg) took it and knocked it out of the park from there,” Flores said. “Then I came and we had a lot of good teams and so many good players. It was a ton of fun … Now it’s come full circle … and hopefully make an impact in a different way. We did some really good things, and now it’s time to do that here at DHS.”
Flores is now a partner in a private business venture, so he can make his own schedule, which allows him to coach again. That and his daughters, Mackenzie and Macie, are a lot older than when he was at FLC. Flores knows that coaching at Durango is a full-time job with the travel demands and all the time in the gym at Durango.
But after stepping away from coaching at the collegiate level, Flores gained a new perspective coaching his daughters in middle school. It brought him back to teaching the fundamentals. He knows it’s a balance between pushing his team as basketball players, but being there and teaching them as people. Flores feels like there isn’t a situation he hasn’t seen.
With his collegiate coaching background, Flores is very happy that there will be a shot clock in high school basketball in Colorado for the first time this winter. He’s never coached without one. Outside of that, Flores wants to see a flowing offense with player and ball movement. He’s going to focus on assist-to-turnover ratio, and Flores wants his squad to push the tempo.
On defense, Flores will have his team pressure the ball and not give up layups.
There will be some familiar faces on the bench coaching with Flores. Longtime Durango girls basketball coach Tim Fitzpatrick will be an assistant for Flores, along with former FLC women’s basketball assistant Kylie Lorenzen.
Flores is excited by the attitudes of the players in the offseason workouts. He’s seen a ceiling of where the team can get to and also a floor if the team isn’t locked in. The Demons should have some promising returners coming back from last year’s 11-12 record, and Flores said there are some players returning who didn’t play last year.
“I love the challenge of the chess match of scouting and game planning against really good teams,” Flores said. “We’ll play with a passion … Our standard is there is no choice over to play with love and for each other and for the game. That’s where I start and stop. I don’t allow that to be less than the standard. From there, we’ll get better and better.”