Steve White of the El Dorado Hills Oak Ridge girls (left) won 700th game of his career this season. At right is 2017 State Coach of the Year Doug Mitchell from Bishop Montgomery of Torrance, who won the 800th game of his career. Photos: Doug Gruler / Gold Country Media & bmhs-la.org.
Both of the boys and girls all-time state coaching records lists have now been updated for everyone through the 2024-25 season. Bishop Montgomery’s Doug Mitchell earned his 800th career win early in the season and we had two more reach 500. For the girls, Oak Ridge’s Steve White won the 700th game of his career and Archbishop Mitty’s Sue Phillips moved up to No. 2 on the all-time state list.
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 (2024-25)
(All listed in alphabetical order)
Bill Burke (Rancho Cucamonga)
He has been the longtime head coach at Rancho Cucamonga since the 2000-2001 season and also is the school’s athletic director. He earned his 500th win near the end of the regular season with an 88-57 victory vs Los Osos. Burke began his career with three seasons at Garey of Pomona (1998-2000) and has been at Rancho since then. One of his former players is Houston Texans’ QB C.J. Stroud.
Gary McKnight (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
It wasn’t that great of a season considering some of them in the 43 years that McKnight has led the MD program. But the 22-9 record that was halted in a CIF Southern Section D1 quarterfinal loss to Santa Barbara was enough to lift Gary to No. 2 on the all-time national list in front of Morgan Wootten of Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha fame. The late Robert Hughes, who died last year, has the most wins of any US boys hoops coach with 1,333. McKnight has no plans to retire that we’ve heard of and would start next season with 1,294. He could break Hughes’ record early in the 2026-2027 season.
Tom Mott also is the athletic director as well as 500-win head basketball coach at St. Joseph of Santa Maria. Photo: sjhsknights.com.
Bill Mellis (Salesian, Richmond)
The head coach of the Pride since 1999 makes another honor roll, this time for moving up the most spots among any of the coaches on the all-time list this year after a 27-4 campaign. Mellis passed seven coaches on the all-time list when it was just updated with a new total of 668 wins.
Doug Mitchell (Bishop Montgomery, Torrance)
It only took two games into the season for Mitchell to become the 15th coach in state history to reach 800 wins in the Cal-Hi Sports state records (which don’t exist anywhere else). The Knights started out well but struggled in their league were only 14-13 overall. Mitchell’s 800th win came in a easy win over Palm Desert in a tournament. The win total he had for the season also was still good enough for him to pass some big names on the all-time list, including Willie West of L.A. Crenshaw. He has been the Knights’ head coach for 36 years.
Tom Mott (St. Joseph, Santa Maria)
We were informed about Coach Mott winning his 500th game when attending the night that Tounde Yessoufou broke the all-time state career scoring record. He had 510 wins at the start of that game according to the school’s pregame media sheet and added seven more before the season ended with a loss to Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks in the CIF SoCal Open Division semifinals. Mott also has been a head coach at nearby Mission Prep of San Luis Obispo.
Tom Orlich (Buchanan, Clovis)
When Orlich got back into high school coaching after serving on the staff at Stanford it was during the 2022-23 season to fill an unexpected spot at Buchanan and he could only finish up with a 1-15 record. Orlich just completed his second full season at Buchanan. He previously was at South Tahoe, which counts as a California school in our records, and Clovis West. This year was way better than the first. He helped the Bears to a 27-6 record and they beat Clovis North (defending Central Section champion) twice while on the way to an appearance in the Central Section D1 championship.
Mike Wall (Folsom)
Modesto Christian has been the top program in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section in recent years, but could not get a four-peat of winning the D1 title with what Folsom was able to accomplish. Wall’s team topped the Crusaders in this year’s title game and his squad also finished 28-4 overall after a loss to De La Salle in the CIF NorCal Open Division. The veteran coach reached the 500-win mark two years ago and is well on his way to 600.
GIRLS BB COACHING HIGHLIGHTS (2023-24)
(All listed in alphabetical order)
Sean Chambers (Antelope)
Chambers’ squad got the job done with a 57-33 triumph over West Park of Roseville for his 500th career win. He is someone we remember as a player in the middle 1980s at Highlands of North Highlands and then went on to star at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (he’s in that college’s Hall of Fame). Sean then played professionally for many years overseas. After his playing career, he started the JBS club team back near home and was the head coach at Highlands for the girls beginning in 2001. He went over to Antelope in 2008 and has been there ever since.
Stan Delus (Etiwanda) &
Anna Almeida (Hanford)
Both of these coaches won their third CIF state titles this season. For Delus, it was three in a row and also all in the Open Division. For Almeida, it was in D2 this year after D3 in 2024 and D5 in 2019. It takes four state titles to get on to the all-time state list that is currently led by Tom Gonsalves of Stockton St. Mary’s with seven between 2002 and 2015. Delus was our 2023 State Coach of the Year while Almeida was the honoree for 2024.
Allison Johnson is shown coaching the Vanden Vikings during a win in the CIF D2 state title game in 2017 vs Mater Dei of Santa Ana. Photo: Facebook.com.
Allison Johnson (Vanden, Fairfield)
The husband-wife duo of Allison and Jake Johnson are often called Team Johnson and this last season the team reached 500 career wins. The milestone win came in a 88-54 romp past Sheldon of Sacramento in early January. The Johnsons went on to guide the Vikings to a 20-10 season that ended with an SJS playoff loss to St. Mary’s of Stockton. Note that there are co-coaching records and it’s been most of the 20 years that Allison has been considered the school’s “coach of record.”
Ann Larson (Ventura)
One year after she moved to No. 2 in Ventura County history, Larson and the Cougars enjoyed a banner season with a 28-3 final record. They lost in the CIFSS D1 playoffs to eventual champion Rancho Christian. Larson moved up more spots on the all-time list than any other coach this season, surpassing five others. She moved one win in front of Berkeley’s Gene Nakamura with 564, but needs 10 to get to the just retiring Rich Yoon of Fullerton Rosary.
Sue Phillips (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose)
We agree that one of these years that Coach Phillips and the Monarchs are going to get it done and win the CIF Open Division state title. They were clearly longshots to win it this year vs an Etiwanda team that was going for a three-peat and was not missing its best player, like Mitty had to do since a January knee injury to junior McKenna Woliczko. Phillips is still tied for second all-time with six CIF state titles and her team this year still won another NorCal crown and beat a 33-0 team (Clovis West) to do it. She also moved past both retired Melissa Hearlihy (Harvard-Westlake) and Jeff Sink (Brea Olinda) from No. 4 to No. 2 on the all-time state list. No. 1 Kevin Kiernan is 53 wins in front of her at the top and while he was retired this season he is coming back to coach next season at Troy of Fullerton.
Kelly Sopak (Carondelet, Concord)
Our 2024-25 State Coach of the Year makes this honor roll for winning the 500th game of his career after four seasons at Northgate (Walnut Creek), then 11 at Miramonte (Orinda) and finally in his fourth at Carondelet. He also only has 85 career losses for a winning percentage that is one you’d see for a football coach next door to Carondelet at De La Salle.
Steve White (Oak Ridge, El Dorado Hills)
The winningest head coach in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section history gained his 700th win on Feb. 7 when the Trojans topped St. Francis of Sacramento in a Sierra Foothill League game. White became just the 11th coach in state history to reach the 700-win mark. His team finished 21-11 overall with an appearance in the SJS D1 semifinals. White began his coaching career at Oak Ridge in 1994 and he also has been the Trojans’ athletic director for many years.
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