Francis Camara prepared for the heat that comes with Reading High basketball

Throughout six seasons on Reading High’s basketball staff Francis Camara effectively, and intentionally, remained out of the spotlight.

You probably didn’t notice him on the sidelines at games. You didn’t spot him easily in team photos. You didn’t see him running around the court wildly after one of the Red Knights’ many championship celebrations.

“I’ve always been in the background,” he said.

That’s about to change in a big way.

The 33-year-old Reading High grad is positioned to move into chair No. 1 on the Red Knights’ bench – the hottest seat around.

The Reading High head coaching job has always been a pressure-cooker. Rick Perez effectively cranked up the heat in his 12 seasons, winning three state championships, including one just seven months ago.

Camara must own an asbestos suit. He says he’s ready for the heat.

“The seat is only hot for people who aren’t prepared,” Camara said. “I don’t really feel pressure from within or even from the outside because I know I’m going to do everything in my power to be (successful).”

When Perez was contemplating stepping down as Reading’s head coach he handed Camara the keys to the car – for a trial run. He put the summer and fall programs in his top assistant’s hands and came away convinced Camara was ready to take the wheel on his own.

“He has what it takes,” Perez wrote in a letter to Reading Basketball Squires Club, the team’s booster club, announcing his resignation and throwing his full support behind his JV coach. “Francis Camara will be an outstanding coach.”

Perez publicly released his announcement Friday afternoon. A few hours later he told MikeDragoSports.com: “I’m very happy with what I’ve seen, the progress over the summer and this fall.”

Perez’s announcement was a bombshell. Camara admits he was a little surprised by it, too. He knew it was coming sooner rather than later but maybe not quite this soon. Perez informed him of his plans a few weeks ago.

Camara’s hiring won’t become official until the school board votes on Oct. 25. Perez has made it known to Reading High’s administration that Camara can handle the job.

“I am confident in what he has done and the product he has put out there,” Perez said late Friday afternoon.

Camara is, too.

He played basketball, football and ran track at Reading High before graduating in 2008 and earning a scholarship to play football at Holy Cross.

Ever since graduating college he has coached basketball, on the AAU and youth levels, and more recently on the varsity level. He’s familiar with the next wave of basketball players about to hit the Geigle floor. He has coached his son Jeremiah – a freshman and expected to be Reading’s next breakout star — and his classmates since they were third-graders.

“This is nothing new to me,” said Camara. “Obviously it’s on a different level. There’s going to be different challenges. I’m ready for those challenges and I’m willing to embrace them. I’m a solution-oriented guy who’s going to find a solution to all of those challenges.

“One thing I can promise: I will be a driven, motivated, emotional person who does nothing but try to pull the best out of the kids and well as myself and the staff.”

Camara was Reading’s football MVP his senior season, when he rushed for 873 yards and led the team with 107 tackles.

Though he went on to play football at a high level he said basketball has always been his No. 1 sport. He was a backup guard on Reading’s 30-1 basketball team in 2007-08.

He joined Perez’s staff in 2017 as a volunteer assistant and said he was “blessed” to work with coaches such as Jai-T Randall, Matt Flowers, Jeff Sparrow and Perez. Those three former Perez assistants are all now head coaches.

“I had the opportunity to be a sponge and soak all that in,” he said. “I told myself: I’ll take a little bit of everything they had and add a little bit of my own. I’m 100 percent confident I can do a great job. I’m a fierce, fiery competitor, and I want to be the best at everything I do.

“I’m very passionate. I’m always studying, always working hard to try to find the next opportunity to be better than I was yesterday.”

Camara will have huge shoes and a quick rebuilding job on his hands. His first team will be the youngest at Reading in years after the graduation of three-time All-State pick Ruben Rodriguez, All-Berks picks Aris Rodriguez and Myles Grey, and defensive stopper Amier Burdine. Those four produced 75 percent of the Red Knights’ points last season.

Perez left as the winningest coach in program history, with a 281-74 record and a sizzling .791 winning percentage. His teams won five district titles, six Berks Conference championships and 10 division titles. The Red Knights averaged 26 wins per season over the last nine years. They went 32-1 last year, the best record in the program’s 122 seasons.

Camara said that while he and Perez were on the same page when it comes to “mindset and preparation and competitiveness and goals” that they “attack things in different ways.”

He’s ready for the comparisons, the criticism and the heat that comes with the job. He grew up in Reading; he knows the score. He doesn’t sound intimidated in the least by the huge expectations around the program.

“I’m not Rick Perez,” he said. “I will never try to be Rick Perez. I can’t be Rick Perez. I’m Francis Camara and I think that’s good enough.”