2 weeks Ago By Justin Couchot
CHICO — Pleasant Valley High School has announced the hiring of Scott Feingold as its new varsity women’s basketball coach, following the retirement of Bob Paddock at the end of the 2025 season.Feingold was officially hired March 20, and he and the girls from the 2025 varsity team who will be returning in 2026 practiced in the gym for the first time Wednesday.Scott FeingoldPleasant Valley High School Principal Damon Whittaker released a statement Wednesday, stating: “Pleasant Valley High School is excited to announce the appointment of Scott Feingold as the new head coach of the Girls Varsity Basketball team.
Coach Feingold brings a wealth of experience, leadership, and passion for the game that will undoubtedly inspire and elevate the team to new heights. With a history of success in coaching basketball at various levels, Coach Feingold is dedicated to fostering both athletic excellence and personal growth in his athletes. His coaching philosophy emphasizes teamwork, discipline, and a commitment to excellence, both on and off the court.
Under his leadership, the program is poised for success as it continues to build a tradition of competitiveness and sportsmanship.”When asked about the transition from coaching boys basketball to girls basketball, he admitted his patience will probably be challenged but, “It’s still basketball.” He said the challenge of the new start is what excites him.
Newly hired Pleasant Valley girls basketball coach Scott Feingold is shown on the sidelines coaching the Pleasant Valley JV boys basketball team on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022 at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, California. (Eddie Saltzman/Contributed)“I thought about the challenge of this girls program, because you have seven players who are leaving and played the last four years and took up 90% of the playing time,” Feingold said.
“It’s a challenge if we can put a group together and be somewhat competitive by the end of it. If (Keating) went another three years that puts me at 66, and that’s tough to start.”At 63 years old, Feingold is excited to use his 38 years of coaching at the junior varsity level at the varsity level.
He graduated from Chico High in 1980 and attended Chico State, and in addition to coaching at PV he’s been subbing or a full-time teacher for 30 of those years. He began his coaching journey at 19 years old at PV, in 1987 he went to Durham for three years (two years at JV head coach and one year as varsity head coach), and has also coached boys and girls tennis off and on since 2002.Feingold made two things clear when accepting the job, and one of those was he was not unhappy with his position at the JV level.
Had the varsity girls job at PV not opened up, he would have never left. He was happy at PV, but was up for a challenge when the right opportunity arose. The second thing he made clear was despite his age he is in it for the long run, and if the boys varsity job at PV were to open up tomorrow he is not throwing his name in the mix.
“I want people to know this isn’t a one time thing, I’m in it 100% and in it long term hopefully,” Feingold said.Paddock calling it quitsPaddock retired from teaching after the 2023-24 school year, and let PV admin and his assistant coaches know during league play this season that it would be his final year coaching.“I was debating on retiring last year, and I was thinking about it and said it would be a nice transition year and these girls are going to be all seniors, I’ve coached them all since they were freshman, so I thought I’d boost them out,” Paddock said.
“I wanted to do some things for myself now. I’m retired from teaching, I want to travel during the winter. Basketball is a long season.
You give up your Thanksgiving, your Christmas, every holiday there is for practice or games. I want to do something in the winter and I want to see my kids more.”Former Pleasant Valley girls basketball head coach Bob Paddock, center, strategizes with his team during a timeout during the Northern Section Division III championship game on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at Cowan Gym in Butte Valley, California.
Paddock announced his retirement at the end of the 2025 regular season. (Ben Mota/All Axis Sports)Former Pleasant Valley girls basketball head coach Bob Paddock, center, draws up a play during the CIF Division II NorCal Regionals final Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at Varley Gym in Chico, California. (Ben Mota/All Axis Sports)Show Caption1 of 2Former Pleasant Valley girls basketball head coach Bob Paddock, center, strategizes with his team during a timeout during the Northern Section Division III championship game on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at Cowan Gym in Butte Valley, California.
Paddock announced his retirement at the end of the 2025 regular season. (Ben Mota/All Axis Sports)ExpandPaddock coached the PV girls program in multiple stints beginning in 2004, but taught at Pleasant Valley from 1999 until his retirement in 2024. He coached the Vikings for five seasons from 2004-2009, when he resigned to coach his kids in junior high school in Durham.
He then coached his daughter at Durham High School from 2014-2016, before stepping down in 2017 when his son decided to attend Pleasant Valley. In 2019 Tyler Newton left Pleasant Valley, and Paddock took over once again.Paddock led the PV girls to four straight Northern Section Division II championships from 2021-2022 through 2024-2025, as well as one in 2019-20 (in 2021 no section title was crowned due to the pandemic).
In Paddock’s previous stint the Vikings won a section title in 2017-18, as well as 2007-08. Paddock made one state championship appearance, a runner-up finish in 2017-18 when the Vikings lost to Redondo Union.Before PV Paddock played basketball, track, football and basketball at Corning High School, and taught at Red Bluff High School for seven years.
He helped coach football and tennis, before moving to his love of basketball.Paddock said he will miss strategizing in games and the off the court experiences the most, but admitted he will not miss practices or driving to away games. He said in his retirement he is looking forward to attending PV games as fans and seeing Feingold lead the group of juniors he coached in his final season, and after a year or two off may get back into coaching at the junior high level.
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