Tom Bonfigli (left) is retiring at St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma as the second-winningest boys head coach in Northern California history. At right is Archbishop Mitty’s Sue Phillips, who became first girls head coach in NorCal history to win 800th game. Photos: Petaluma Argus-Courier & David Gershon / SportStars.
Both of the boys and girls all-time coaching records lists have now been updated for everyone through the 2023-24 season. The biggest milestone win for the boys was from Pasadena Poly’s Brad Hall (700th). For the girls, Mater Dei’s Kevin Kiernan (900th) and Archbishop Mitty’s Sue Phillips (800th) were the biggest. We also say best wishes to retiring boys coaches Tom Bonfigli from St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma and Ken Green of Stockton St. Mary’s. Kiernan is stepping away for the girls, but we’re somewhat certain he may come back at a later time.
To read about this year’s State Coach of the Year (Boys), CLICK HERE.
To read about this year’s State Coach of the Year (Girls), CLICK HERE.
To check out our updated Gold Club list of California’s all-time winningest boys hoops coaches (all with 600 wins or more), CLICK HERE.
To check out our updated Gold Club list of California’s all-time winningest girls hoops coaches (all with 400 wins or more), CLICK HERE.
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BOYS BB COACHING HIGHLIGHTS (2023-24)
(All listed in alphabetical order)
Terri Bamford (La Jolla Country Day)
She notched the 700th win of her career early in the season at the school’s Sweet 16 tourney with an overtime victory over Buena Park. Bamford only needs a handful of wins to start next season to become the winningest head coach in CIF San Diego Section history.
Tom Bonfigli (St. Vincent de Paul, Petaluma)
The one they call the Bonfather in the Redwood Empire has retired after the 2024 season and did so with a final team that finished 26-4. He ends at No. 6 on the all-time state list for wins with 869 and No. 2 in Northern California behind only Don Lippi of Alameda St. Joseph Notre Dame (retired after 2023 season). Bonfigli also coached for many years at Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa and Justin-Siena of Napa.
Matt Dunn (St. John Bosco, Bellflower)
The 2024 State Coach of the Year became the fourth in state history to win a CIF state title at two different schools. Dunn’s first came in 2015 in D3 at Damien of La Verne. His second came this season in D1 for the Braves. He was a player at Jesuit of Carmichael in back-to-back CIF D1 state championship finals against Crenshaw of Los Angeles in 1993 and 1994, but the Marauders fell to the Cougars in both games.
Harvard-Westlake head coach David Rebibo joined an all-time state list when his team won a CIF state title for the third time. Photo: hw.com.
Josh Giles (Centennial, Corona)
It wasn’t a great season at Centennial especially after the Huskies won three straight CIF Southern Section Open Division titles from 2021 to 2023. But included in the squad’s 21-14 record was the 500th career victory for Giles. The 2021 State Coach of the Year also is a former all-state player for coach Mike LeDuc at Glendora in 1995-96. LeDuc is one of just two head coaches in state history with more than 1,000 career wins. “It’s been an awesome ride,” Giles said of his tenure at Centennial in an interview with the Riverside Press-Telegram. “I really could not have landed in a better spot.”
Ken Green (St. Mary’s, Stockton)
We may not have heard about Green stepping down from the Rams if not for a neighbor to us in Stockton talking about it at a recent neighborhood gathering. But Green has called it a career for the Rams. There was a celebration about it just this week at St. Mary’s. Ken, a former basketball player and baseball player at St. Mary’s, switched over to his alma mater in 2003 after coaching for 11 seasons at Lodi High. He had one team in 2006 reach the CIF D3 state championship but ran into a super team from Artesia (Lakewood) that had future NBA superstar James Harden and lost, 60-41. Green coached his own NBA player later on, Gabe Vincent, who had an injury-marred season with the Los Angeles Lakers after helping the Miami Heat reach the 2023 NBA Finals. Ken passed Rick Francis of Sonora as the winningest coach ever for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section and will stop with a career mark of 669-223.
Brad Hall (Poly, Pasadena)
It took a more than one attempt, but Hall gained the 700th win of his career with a win against Gabrielino of San Gabriel in the CIFSS D4AA playoffs. The Panthers then lost in their next playoff game and ended the season with an 18-10 record. Hall became the 26th coach in state history to reach 700 career wins. He started his coaching career at Pasadena Poly in 1978 for one season, then was head coach again from 1981 to 1999. He took the 2000 season off, came back for 2001 and then was off again from 2002 to 2005. Hall has been head coach of the Panthers in his current run since 2006.
Mike Haupt (St. Augustine, San Diego)
It wasn’t reported or seemed to have any fanfare, but according to the totals we have for Mike he won the 600th game of his career during the 2023-24 season. The 2013 State Coach of the Year was at 585 wins at the start of the season and Saints went 25-6, which would make it 610 wins for a current total.
Bill Mellis (Salesian, Richmond)
He moved up the most among any coaches on the all-time state list as the Pride went 31-2 and reached the CIF Open Division state final before just barely losing to Harvard-Westlake. The balanced nature of Salesian’s team was so impressive that not only player averaged more than 10 ppg. Mellis moved up eight spots on the all-time state list from 610 wins to start up to 641 heading into next season.
Dave Rebibo (Harvard-Westlake, Studio City)
He has been added to the all-time list of coaches with the most CIF state titles with three. Rebibo’s first came in 2016 in D4. The last two were for the last two seasons 2023 and 2024 for the Open Division. He was State Coach of the Year for us for 2020.
Pete Rettinger & Rick Wolter (Elsinore, Lake Elsinore)
There have been co-coaches of the boys basketball team at Elsinore for 30 years and this season the duo of Rettinger and Wolter were credited with their 500th wins after their team rolled to a 70-37 nonleague triumph vs Santa Fe of Santa Fe Springs. The duo stepped up to become co-head coaches in 1994 when the previous head coach, Roger Blake, became athletic director of the Lake Elsinore Unified School District. Yes, that is the same Roger Blake who eventually went on to the CIF state office and became CIF executive director for seven years (he retired in 2019). Since we’ve been doing state records, co-coaches are not each credited with a coaching win for a win by their team. That would mean there are two wins available for each game, which is obviously not possible. Rettinger and Wolter still would have to get to 600 to make it onto the all-time state list, but they would be added to any state coaching record list at the bottom with an asterisk.
Steve Taylor (Rocklin)
Rocklin got to 23-0 this season before it lost and had one of the top teams in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section. In the 22nd game, Taylor picked up the 500th win of his career. He began coaching at Fresno High for three seasons before coming back to Placer County (he’s from Roseville) to start the program in 1993 when Rocklin High opened. Taylor left coaching in 2010, but came back to the same program in 2015 and he has been there since then.
GIRLS BB COACHING HIGHLIGHTS (2023-24)
(All listed in alphabetical order)
Terri Bamford (La Jolla Country Day)
She notched the 700th win of her career early in the season at the school’s own Sweet 16 tournament with an overtime triumph over Buena Park. Bamford only needs a handful of wins to start next season to become the winningest head coach in CIF San Diego Section history.
Stan Delus (Etiwanda)
He was our State Coach of the Year after last season when the Eagles won their first of what became two straight CIF Open Division state championships. The win this year over Archbishop Mitty of San Jose also put Delus on a short list with just Alicia Komaki of Sierra Canyon as the only two coaches who have won two Open Division state titles.
Marcelo Enriquez (Redondo, Redondo Beach)
We had Coach Enriquez with 576 wins to start the 2023-24 season and since the team’s final record was 24-6, that looks like 600 for him in his career. We did not see any kind of reporting about that on social media or in the South Bay Daily Breeze. It could still be correct as there are times when coaches don’t tell anyone about such milestones and there isn’t someone else who planned anything, either. Regardless, Enriquez still passed three people on the all-time state list and he had another outstanding season.
Mater Dei head coach Kevin Kiernan plus former assistant and current Sierra Canyon head coach Alicia Komaki have both won multiple CIF state titles and have both been State Coach of the Year. Photo: Jack Pollon / @pollonpreps.
Margaret Gartner (Acalanes, Lafayette)
A 62-25 victory last Jan. 31 by the Dons over Northgate of Walnut Creek gave Gartner the 600th win of her career. Most of her wins came during a stretch of years from 1992 to 2014 at Carondelet of Concord. She picked back up with her coaching career in 2021 at Acalanes. Gartner also has been a teacher in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District for more than 30 years.
Melissa Hearlihy
(Harvard-Westlake, Studio City)
While the Wolverines were making their run to the CIF D2 state title, their win in the regional semifinals over Oak Park enabled Hearlihy to move to second-place on the all-time state wins list. She notched the 837th win over her career at Alemany and Harvard-Westlake since 1986 and moved past previous No. 2 Jeff Sink (retired in 2017 at Brea Olinda). Hearlihy’s girls later won the CIF D2 state title with a victory over Colfax. It was her second CIF state title (the first in 2010 in D4 also for Harvard-Westlake).
Kevin Kiernan (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
The state’s winningest coach on the girls side made a surprise announcement on the busiest week of the season (just after the regional pairings were done the day before) that this would be his final season of coaching (for now). The Monarchs had a game two days later vs Mission Hills of San Marcos and the big question became whether it would be Kevin’s 899th or 900th win. After much help from assistant coach Jesse Vargas, it was determined 900th was correct. Kiernan’s team got him that milestone win and then lost in the SoCal Open regional semifinals to Etiwanda. Kevin will continue as Mater Dei’s athletic director and also can support/watch two of his daughters playing for the Monarchs over the next couple of seasons instead of coaching them. He didn’t rule out returning to coaching after his girls are done.
Russell McClurg (Huntington Beach)
Win No. 500 for McClurg came in late January when the Oilers nipped Laguna Beach, 41-39. McClurg began his career in 1995 at Calvary Chapel of Santa Ana. He’s been at Huntington Beach since the 2004-2005 season. Russell began his career in 1995 at Calvary Chapel of Santa Ana. He’s been at Huntington Beach since the 2004-2005 season.
Pat Moramarco (Vista)
The CIF San Diego Section added a girls hoops head coach to its 400-win club last December. Moramarco won his 400th with a 67-55 win over Hoover of San Diego. His team finished with a 22-7 record. Moramarco has been coaching at Vista for 30 years. He’s also been the school’s athletic director for many years, and we know how hard it is to juggle both roles at a big public high school like Vista.
Sue Phillips (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose)
A 79-8 rout over Presentation of San Jose not long after the Monarchs had topped Long Island Lutheran in the Arizona TOC championship enabled Phillips to join just three other coaches in the Golden State to notch 800 career coaching wins. She joined only Mater Dei’s Kevin Kiernan, Harvard-Westlake’s Melissa Hearlihy and former Brea Olinda coach Jeff Sink above the 800 mark.
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