Sue Phillips (left) from Archbishop Mitty of San Jose and Terri Bamford of La Jolla Country Day have combined to win 10 CIF state titles and it would have been 11 if their scheduled CIF Open Division state final last March would have been played. They also both coach their teams in AAU summer events. Photo: Harold Abend.
The all-time state coaching wins list for girls hoops has also just been updated (right along with boys) and it now shows us with someone at the top with 800 or more plus there’s a different coach now showing in the No. 2 position. We also have one more added to the 700-win club, three more added to the 600-win club and a new addition to the list with 400 or more wins.
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Terri Bamford (La Jolla Country Day)
Before the Torreys really started to show how great they were even early in the season, Bamford recorded her 600th career win. That includes wins from her first five seasons at San Pasqual of Escondido. Her team won its first CIF SoCal Open Division title and was No. 1 in all final major national and state rankings.
Lynwood has been a state powerhouse under Ellis Barfield since the early 1990s. Photo: caschoolnews.net.
Ellis Barfield (Lynwood)
There wasn’t a reported celebration for Coach Barfield winning his 600th game, but doing the math from last season and adding the Knights’ 22 wins from this season definitely puts him over the top. At 22-9, it wasn’t one of our 1993 State Coach of the Year’s best seasons, but Lynwood was in the CIF Southern Section Open Division and should be strong again in 20-21 with the return of first team all-state junior Rayah Marshall.
Marcelo Enriquez (Redondo, Redondo Beach)
& Richard Yoon (Rosary, Fullerton)
It wasn’t actually that great of a season for Marcelo, who directed Redondo to the 2018 CIF Division 2 state title, but the 19 wins that this year’s team did get helped him pass five others on the all-time state list. The only only coach to go past five others on that list by the end of this season was Yoon. His team at Rosary did a bit better, winning a second straight CIF SoCal D1 title and also snapping Santa Ana Mater Dei’s 90-game league win streak. Yoon’s team was looking to beat Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland for a second straight CIF D2 state title, but as we know that game and all of the other CIF state finals this year didn’t happen.
Melissa Hearlihy (Harvard-Westlake, Studio City)
We’re sure Melissa would have preferred to get her win total to 764 or 765 with a CIF SoCal D1 title (or even a CIF D1 state title), but she did get to 762 after the Wolverines defeated Marlborough of Los Angeles in the CIF SoCal D1 quarterfinals. Her team’s season than ended in the semifinals with a loss to Cathedral Catholic of San Diego. In winning No. 762, however, Hearlihy surpassed Ventura Buena’s Joe Vaughan into the No. 2 spot on the all-time state list. The only coach she is trailing now is Mater Dei’s Kevin Kiernan, who is beyond 800 and is still going strong.
Allison & Jake Johnson (Vanden, Fairfield)
The Johnsons have been a husband-wife tandem at Vanden for the last 15-plus years and made their biggest splash when the Vikings defeated Mater Dei of Santa Ana for the 2017 CIF Division 2 state crown. It was win No. 400 in a 66-18 victory in league against Wood of Vacaville. Allison has been more considered the “coach of record” but they are listed on MaxPreps and in media reports as co-coaches. In those situations for coaching wins, the “coach of record” gets the win so it is Allison listed in the record book file. There is no such thing as half-a-win in any record book and obviously each coach can’t get a win, either. The win total for Allison Johnson will be at 406 since 2003 heading into next season.
Kevin Kiernan (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
Our version of Coach K created headlines last season when he became the state’s winningest coach ever. This year, Kiernan became the first in the state to surpass 800 career wins. The Monarchs got him that win at the Nike Extravaganza with a 61-46 victory over Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, Nev. Making the moment sweeter is that daughter Camryn connected for a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter to help the Monarchs pull away. Kiernan recorded more than 300 wins at Troy of Fullerton from 1997 to 2007 and has more than 500 at Mater Dei since 2008.
Richard Masson (Rolling Hills Prep, San Pedro)
It is possible that Coach Masson could return to coaching someday, but he is retired for now and his tenure as the girls coach at Rolling Hills Prep is complete. Masson won his 600th game this season of a career that includes more than 400 wins as a boys coach. We have always kept separate lists for boys and girls basketball wins (just like for all playing categories) so his wins don’t make either list. However, the career will be mentioned as a note underneath the boys lists for now. Masson finished 131-39 at Rolling Hills Prep since 2014, which includes a CIF D4 state title for 2017. The Huskies also were three-time SoCal region champions. He began coaching boys at Jordan of Los Angeles in 1976 and in seven years the Bulldogs won six league titles and his record was 129-36. Masson then went to Carson after one year off and from 1993 to 2004 the Colts went 361-185 and reached the L.A. City Section semifinals eight times. For all three schools, Masson’s combined record has been 611-260.
Sue Phillips (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose)
It was a tough ending for Phillips and her girls as the Monarchs weren’t able to play La Jolla Country Day for the CIF Open Division state crown. Earlier in the season, though, at the West Coast Jamboree, Sue recorded the 700th win of her career, but a few games later perhaps more significantly she surpassed 703 wins and became the all-time career leader for Northern California. Brian Harrigan, who Phillips went up against for years in the West Catholic Athletic League at Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. Francis of Mountain View, was the previous NorCal leader.
Steve White (Oak Ridge, El Dorado Hills)
We had a lower win total in our records, but it was close enough to accept that White won the 600th game of his career when the Trojans topped Woodcreek of Roseville 48-20 in the second round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 playoffs. They would eventually reach the title game before losing to St. Mary’s of Stockton. White has been coaching at Oak Ridge since 1994 and also has been athletic director. No one will ever forget White’s team upsetting Long Beach Poly in the 2010 CIF D1 state final and snapping the Jackrabbits’ run of consecutive state titles at four.
If there is another coach with 400 or more wins that we need to start to follow, email info to markjtennis@gmail.com.
Mark Tennis is the editor and publisher of Cal-Hi Sports. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
