R.J. Shelton became the Murrieta Valley High School boys basketball head coach for the 2025-26 season, and the Nighthawks had a 10-18 overall record.“Last year was a rough year,” Shelton said. “It was a learning experience.”Shelton, who had previously been the junior varsity coach and a varsity assistant at Temecula Valley High School, was not cleared to coach the 2025-26 Nighthawks until early fall, which eliminated off-season coordination. “It was a tough transition,” he said.Preparing a Murrieta Valley team for the likes of the 2023-24 Temecula Valley team, which won the CIF Southern Section championship, includes scheduling pre-league opponents who can prepare a team for league and CIF playoff competition. “It was a really brutal schedule,” Shelton said of t
