D2 State Coach of the Year Victor Chavarin Jr. (left) has guided Sierra Pacific of Hanford to two straight section titles and one CIF state title. At right, D3 State Coach of the Year Matt Raya hugs player after CIF D3 state title game went final with El Dorado of Placentia on top. Photos: X.com & Mark Bausman / For OC Sports Zone.
Congratulations to all of the 2025-26 Cal-Hi Sports State Coaches of the year for girls basketball. Presented by our partners from CalGamesWanted.com, these are the ones for each of the five CIF state divisions. The overall State Coach of the Year also is one of the five. Of the other four honorees, two are from Orange County.
For more on this year’s overall State Coach of the Year announcement, CLICK HERE.
(Associate editor Harold Abend contributed to these honors.)
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OPEN DIVISION/DIVISION I
Marlon Wells (Rancho Christian, Temecula)
Our overall State Coach of the Year also would check in on top for the Open Division and D1 for the state. In his four years at Rancho Christian, Wells has taken a team that wasn’t even a factor in SoCal girls basketball and produced three 20-win seasons in four years. After last year’s team ended No. 16 in the final state rankings, this year’s squad for the Eagles had their highest finish ever at No. 11. A big difference is this year’s team played its toughest schedule ever and had wins over several ranked teams.
DIVISION II
Victor Chavarin Jr. (Sierra Pacific, Hanford)
There were many young coaches who were checked out as candidates to be the coach of the year for D2 plus there were a couple who’ve been picked before from Oakland Tech and Salesian of Richmond. It therefore became much easier to just go ahead and lock in the second-year head coach from the CIF D2 state title team.
Chavarin Jr. has collected a couple of other recent honors, including Central Valley Coach of the Year by West Coast Preps and being named as one of just 30 coaches in the nation by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association in a top Thirty Under 30 list.
After the 2023-24 season, previous head coach Amy Bush stepped down from girls basketball coaching for family/personal reasons. She was named the 2018 State Coach of the Year for D5 after the Golden Bears won their 2018 state title in that division. Victor had been an assistant coach for seven years and appeared to be an obvious choice.
The Sierra Pacific program is only 17 years old and has only had a varsity team for 15 seasons. Chavarin’s goals has been to continue to play at the highest levels. That’s why he went out and scheduled some of the toughest opponents he could find and it’s why the Golden Bears only won once in their first eight games. Among those they played and got routed by included Clovis West, Clovis, Sierra Canyon, Moreno Valley and Mater Dei of Santa Ana.
It all worked out in the end, though, as Sierra Pacific learned from those early games. It won its second straight CIF Central Section D2 title with a 64-48 win vs Bakersfield Christian. Then came the CIF NorCal regional playoffs in which a trip to the D2 state final was clinched with a win over Oakland Tech. Chavarin’s team then won the state title with a 56-47 triumph over St. Joseph of Santa Maria.
Chavarin Jr., also an alum of the school, also served as an assistant coach under Bush in 2020 when Sierra Pacific won the CIF NorCal D4 regional title (last win was on the road at Colfax) but the state finals were cancelled that season by the outbreak of the COVID pandemic.
The last D2 State Coach of the Year from the Central Section was Bakersfield’s Rashaan Shehee (later a football coach) in 2020. Hanford High’s Tom Parrish earned the honor for 2010.
Recent honorees: 2025 Kyle Williamson (San Diego Rancho Bernardo); 2024 Bob Paddock (Chico Pleasant Valley); 2023 Bo Corona (Lawndale Leuzinger); 2022 Kerwin Walters (Newport Beach Sage Hill); 2021 Steve Picchi (Redwood City Sequoia); 2020 Rashaan Shehee (Bakersfield); 2019 Jose Herrera (Alhambra Mark Keppel); 2018 Roger DiCarlo (San Marcos); 2017 Allison Johnson (Fairfield Vanden); 2016 Mark Lehman (San Bernardino Cajon); 2015 Miguel Granillo (Tracy Kimball); 2014 Kelli DiMuro (Chaminade, West Hills); 2013 Michelle Massari (Sacramento); 2012 Leonard DeCoud (Riverside J.W. North); 2011 Wade Nakamura (San Jose Presentation); 2010 Tom Parrish (Hanford).
DIVISION III
Matthew Raya (El Dorado, Placentia)
Folks from outside of Orange County may not know the story of the Raya family at El Dorado and why the girls team this year winning the school’s first-ever state title has such meaning.
To begin, the gym at El Dorado is named for Joe Raya, who was a longtime equipment and maintenance manager at the school who also was a custodian and athletic trainer. The school also hosts the annual Gary Raya Classic basketball tournament each year, which is named for former El Dorado girls coach assistant boys coach Gary Raya, who was starting out a promising coaching career in 1995 when he died suddenly at age 29 from a heart issue.
In 2022, Matt decided to take over the girls basketball program at El Dorado where his late brother coached after serving as an assistant for 25 years at Rosary of Fullerton. Rosary won two CIF state titles, three SoCal regional titles and two CIF Southern Section titles under head coach Richard Yoon while Raya also was there. At El Dorado, hanging a banner in that gym became a stated goal for Raya and since the Golden Hawks also won the CIFSS D4A title this season in addition to the CIF D3 state title they will hang two.
Joe Raya was 92 years old when Matt took over at El Dorado and unfortunately he didn’t make it to 2026 as he passed away last year.
“I wanted to do it while he was still alive,” Raya said when he was featured just this week as a Hometown Hero by CBS LA. “I know he’s very happy and very proud.”
El Dorado followed up its win over La Canada for the CIFSS title by downing Leuzinger of Lawndale, 61-56, for the regional title. In the D4 state final, the Golden Hawks edged Valley Christian of San Jose, 42-40.
And how about this for another final twist: The last D3 state coach of the year from Orange County was Matthew’s old boss, Rich Yoon of Rosary, for 2017.
Recent honorees: 2025 Kayden Korst (Kentfield Marin Catholic); 2024 Anna Almeida (Caruthers); 2023 Rexanne Simpton (Colfax); 2022 Dave Kavern (Porterville); 2021 Lynley Takaki (San Jose Lynbrook); 2020 Matt Dale (Menifee Paloma Valley); 2019 Orlando Gray (Oakland); 2018 John Langston (Sacramento West Campus); 2017 Rich Yoon (Rosary Academy, Fullerton); 2016 Kelly Sopak (Orinda Miramonte); 2015 LyRyan Russell (S.F. Sacred Heart Cathedral); 2014 Andrew Butcher (Santa Barbara); 2013 Malik McCord (Oakland Bishop O’Dowd); 2012 Malik McCord (Oakland Bishop O’Dowd); 2011 Tom Howard (Orange Lutheran); 2010 Tony Scott (Inglewood).
LeBre Merritt and team at Palisades (Pacific Palisades) endured a lot of difficulties during 2026 season, but wound up with a CIF regional title. Photo: Mark Tennis.
DIVISION IV
LeBre Merritt (Palisades, Pacific Palisades)
One of the best moments of the CIF state championship press conferences this year — or difficult to hear about — was how hard it was for the Palisades girls to make the trek to this year’s state finals. While head coach Merritt and the Dolphins were out-classed in the D4 state final by Faith Christian of Yuba City, they overcame incredible odds to win a CIF SoCal regional title.
The Palisades campus was virtually destroyed last January 7 of 2025 by one of the worst wildfires in US history. One of the girls basketball players, senior Ayla Teegardin, lost her home. The team had to practice and play in different gyms across the city and at sometimes odd hours. But Merritt, an alumnus of the school and in his first season, kept it all together. Palisades took on top seed Godinez of Santa Ana in the regional final and posted a 54-38 win to book its trip to Sacramento.
In gaining the D4 coaching honor, it just became a desire to acknowledge the road that these girls and their coach took to gain a regional title. Merritt also has become the first D4 state coach of the year in girls hoops from the CIF L.A. City Section.
It also would be appropriate to mention former Palisades head coach Adam Levine, who had teams in higher CIF divisions in the seven seasons that compiled a 129-82 record with three LA City titles and a team in 2020 that was supposed to play for a CIF D2 state title that couldn’t due to COVID. Levine stepped down after the 2025 season. LeBre was an assistant and has obviously kept up the momentum of his predecessor.
Recent honorees: 2025 Myron Jacobs (Cerritos Whitney); 2024 Matt Tomlin (Eureka St. Bernard’s); 2023 Leonard Dominguez (Montebello Cantwell-Sacred Heart); 2022 Trey Mitchell (Ross Branson); 2021 Jerry Taylor (Fresno Roosevelt); 2020 Rick Berry (Cloverdale); 2019 LeRoy Hurt (Oakland Tech); 2018 Buck Matthews (Portola Valley Woodside Priory); 2017 Dawnesha Buckner (Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos); 2016 Stephen Pezzola (Richmond Salesian); 2015 David Esparza (Anaheim Fairmont Prep); 2014 Jim Hart (Scotts Valley); 2013 McKinsey Hadley (Gardena Serra); 2012 Terri Bamford (La Jolla Country Day); 2011 Steve Smith (Los Angeles Windward); 2010 Melissa Hearlihy (North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake).
Laguna Hills head coach Jim Martin interacts with an official during game from 2024-25 season. Photo: Coach’s Corner / YouTube.com.
DIVISION V
Jim Martin (Laguna Hills)
One of the reasons we limit coach of the year honors for one time only in any division is that we never know when we’ll have a chance to put a coach in the state spotlight that has been doing a great job for many years. We’re doing that for D5 girls this year with the selection of Martin, who has been the head coach at Laguna Hills for 28 years.
Laguna Hills lost in this year’s D5 state final to Woodland Christian, which repeated as the D5 winners under head coach Shiloh Sorbello, who also was the D5 state coach of the year last season. Martin, however, is not a runner-up as a coach with a long successful resume of success.
Before this year’s team made a run to the CIF Southern Section D7 title game and won the CIF SoCal D5 title with a victory over Schurr of Montebello, Martin’s teams at Laguna Hills had won CIFSS titles in 1997, 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2012. The 2012 team he coached later lost in the CIF D3 state final to Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland.
Martin also was an assistant coach under previous head coach Lynn Taylor at Laguna Hills in 1997 when the team won the CIF D2 state title, ended 31-3, had State Athlete of the Year Tayyiba Haneef-Park leading the way (a future US Olympian in volleyball), and was named Cal-Hi Sports State Team of the Year. Taylor later became an assistant for many years after Martin became the head coach.
Making this year’s run to a regional title more enjoyable for Martin is that several of the seniors were on teams that struggled to win games in the 22-23 season (just 7-18) before they helped turn it around to 22-5 last year and now 21-12 this year.
Martin is only the second-ever D5 State Coach of the Year from Orange County. The only other previous honoree has been Danny Roussel of Huntington Beach Marina in 2023.
Recent honorees: 2025 Shiloh Sorbello (Woodland Christian); 2024 Nita Simpson (Oakland); 2023 Danny Roussel (Huntington Beach Marina); 2022 Ryan Coleman (Los Angeles Shalhevet); 2021 Joseph Murray (San Marcos St. Joseph Academy); 2020 Jennifer Keithley (Watsonville Monte Vista Christian); 2019 Anna Almeida (Caruthers); 2018 Amy Bush (Hanford Sierra Pacific); 2017 Richard Masson (San Pedro Rolling Hills Prep); 2016 Jon Sampang (Sun Valley Village Christian); 2015 Donovan Blythe (East Palo Alto Eastside Prep); 2014 Doc Scheppler (Los Altos Hills Pinewood); 2013 Alicia Komaki (Chatsworth Sierra Canyon); 2012 Que Ngo (Stockton Brookside Christian); 2011 Julianne Berry (Alameda St. Joseph Notre Dame); 2010 Doc Scheppler (Los Altos Hills Pinewood).
Note: Coaches can be listed twice in a division because the second time they were honored as the overall State Coach of the Year.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
