Coaching staff addition means reunion for Sahmir Hagans

DURHAM – Coming to Duke with coach Manny Diaz from Penn State meant Gabe Infante would have at least one familiar face on the staff.

The kicker, though, was that Infante would have a familiar face in the locker room.

Infante, Duke’s coach of many titles — assistant head coach, special teams coordinator, defensive tackles coach — was the head coach of St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, where he coached Duke’s Sahmir Hagans early in his high school career.

“It’s a great treat,” Infante said of coaching Hagans again. “I mean, first of all, being a longtime high school football coach … to be able to see how he’s doing here, to see that come to fruition is a true blessing for me.

“And also just moving down here, having a familiar face and someone who kind of knows how I am and we’ve been really successful together, has been very comforting for me.”

Infante’s work with the defensive tackles obviously doesn’t give him much time around Hagans, who will be in his fourth season with the Blue Devils this year.

But as special teams coordinator, and with Hagans in the mix to replace Jalon Calhoun as the primary punt returner, Infante sees a fair share of his former player during special teams periods.

“Especially getting to know the players now and coming from a different area, having Sahmir in that locker room and having that relationship, I think has really helped to bridge the gap in those transitions that happen when you’re a new coach coming into a new program,” Infante said.

Infante was at St. Joseph’s — “the Prep,” as he referred to it — from 2010-18. The Hawks lost in the state championship in Hagans’ freshman season, and then went 13-0 with a state title — and revenge game in the playoffs against Pine-Richland — in 2018 before Infante entered the college ranks, taking a job at Temple.

“Being away from him for a little while, get adjusted to it,” Hagans said. “But I’m probably most familiar out of all the players, so he has his little sayings that I catch onto that other guys are taking a little bit longer. It’s good to have him back, the love is always there.”

That last part is a big part of what Infante taught as a high school coach.

“Trust and love, that’s two values we practiced a lot in high school,” Hagans said. “You can’t really play this game without trust and love, you have to trust each other to do their job and you have to love each other to do it.”