Wittenwyler has been an assistant at Denver East for nine years, but the Denver native didn’t end up on head coach Rudy Carey’s staff by accident.
Carey has won seven state basketball titles — tied for the second-most in Colorado boys history — and the first three of those came at Manual High School. As a high school junior in 1988, Wittenwyler played for the Manual basketball program when it won Carey’s first state title. In all, Wittenwyler lettered four times in golf, three in baseball and two in basketball at Manual.
Largely because of his connection with Carey, Wittenwyler has been a volunteer on the Denver East staff since 1999. He handles statistics and produces the team’s web site, angelshoops.com.
“It costs me upwards of $2,000 to volunteer ... but if I can touch one or two kids per year and make a difference, that’s good,” said Wittenwyler, who besides coaching and being an agent works in web site design and video surveillance.
Ironically, Wittenwyler said he didn’t like Carey much when he played for him, but he respects the longtime head coach greatly now.
“He’s such a unique individual,” Wittenwyler said of Carey. “He’s the most genuine — and best — person I’ve ever met. He’s one of the main reasons I do this. The other reason is to have an effect on some of the kids.”
Denver East has the look of a dynasty with Carey at the helm. After leaving Manual for East, he’s won state titles with the Angels in 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2007. Wittenwyler was on the staff for the last two championships.
The current Angels team enters the Final Four with a 21-5 record.
“This team has more rough spots (than last year), but they’ve been here before,” Wittenwyler said. “They’re not afraid of big games.”
