A fantastic season for men's basketball at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) got even better with Coach Andy Newman being named West Region Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. This is his fourth year at CSUSB, but only his third year coaching due to the limitations of the 2020-21 season. Newman led his team to victory in the California Collegiate Athletic Association championships for the first time in eight years with a 24-4 record.
"I'm honored to be recognized as the Region Coach of the Year, especially when you look at the quality number of coaches in this region..." Newman said of the recent award. "This is an incredibly talented group of coaches we get to compete against, and I am humbled and very appreciative to be recognized in this way. I do want to acknowledge the true winners of this award though, as everyone in basketball knows that the coach of the year is a staff award. Jordan Jamestown, Ivan Patterson and Riley Hamilton are deserving of the credit as they are the ones that run this program's engines. I am very grateful for their commitment to CSUSB men's basketball, and I am happy to see their efforts be recognized around the region with this award."
With Newman's guidance as head coach, the Coyotes lead the conference in scoring, winning margin, assists, field goal percentage, rebound margin and rebounds per game, according to a CSUSB article on the coach.
Before coming to California State, Newman coached the University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) Division II men's basketball team, the Falcons, and was considered one of the winningest coaches. That team saw success during his tenure with five-straight winning seasons, equaling a total of 101 wins. Besides making it to the post season annually, the Falcons advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II tournament during Newman's last two years with UTPB, according to CSUSBAthletics.com.
The start of Newman's extensive coaching experience was Vanguard University of Southern California where he was an assistant coach before moving on to West Valley Community College. Newman also served as the associate head coach for the Division I team at Cal State Fullerton. Before Cal State, Newman worked as the basketball operations coordinator for a season at Division I Fresno State.