NORCAL ELITE COACHING STAFF

FRANK ALLOCCO

Director & Founder

Frank was an all-state high school basketball player at Northgate High School under the guidance of Coach Frank Allocco, Sr. He led his team to a state championship in 1995, and scored 2,008 career points but more importantly, won 90% of his games.

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Frank continued his basketball career by accepting a scholarship to Saint Mary’s College, where he was a three year starter, a WCC All-Conference player, and a participant in the 1997 NCAA tournament. He played for two renowned coaches, Ernie Kent and David Bollwinkel, who taught him what it takes to be a successful player at the college level.

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Frank is the Head Varsity Coach at Clayton Valley Charter High School. In his first four seasons his teams have won 72% of their games with two Division 1 North Coast Section Championships. Coach Allocco was named as an Honorable Mention for Bay Area Coach of the Year for the 2024-25 season according to Mercury News Group. Clayton Valley has had 10 players move on to play at the collegiate level in his four full seasons as head coach. He previously coaches for 12 years at De La Salle High School, being part of some of the most successful teams in California and winning a state championship in 2006. He is also the Director of Excel in Basketball Camps.

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Coach Allocco was the founder of Prime Basketball which quickly rose to prominence as a top youth AAU program in the state of California.  Prime and Flight Elite were two programs that came together to create NorCal Elite.

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Frank and his wife Janis live in Walnut Creek with their three children, Greg, Mick, and Belle.

CHRIS WHIRLOW

Director & Founder

Chris co-founded Flight Elite in 1997 and helped build the program into one of the finest youth AAU programs in the West Region. Chris has coached teams from 3rd grade through High School Varsity since 1992.

He coached at Northgate HS in Walnut Creek from 1994-1997 and at Acalanes HS in Lafayette 1998-1999. Chris was the Head Varsity Boys coach at Campolindo HS in Moraga from 2001-2008. During his 7 seasons at the school, the Cougars compiled a 136-66 record, winning 3 DFAL league titles and 3 North Coast Section championships. These were the first for the school in over 30 years. He was named Contra Costa Times Coach of the Year in 2005. Chris resigned as Head Coach from Campolindo in 2008 to spend more time working with the Flight Elite program.

Chris also spent time as the Director of the West Coast Elite NorCal Under Armour Program. Coach Whirlow has been involved in the recruiting of countless players throughout the past two decades through Flight Elite, high school basketball, and his time with the Under Armour circuit teams. 

Chris and his wife Audrey live in Danville with their daughter, Emerson.