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NEWS 11/20/2007: 9/17/2007: Corsairs in the News: 8/8/2007: SMC to host High School Fall League 8/1/2007: SMC goes 3-1 at Showcase Event Welcome Coach Jesse Teplitzky! In an empty conference room above the Santa Monica College gymnasium, one young man listens attentively while another young man speaks casually of his life and career as a college basketball coach. Jesse Teplitzky has been named the new Santa Monica College basketball coach for the 2007-2008 season. Coach "T" has coached three basketball programs before the age of 29, and was an assistant coach for Metro State that won back-to-back NCAA II Championships prior to coming to SMC. “What I enjoy most about coaching is when former players come back and thank me for the things that I’ve helped them with that they may not have appreciated at the time,” said Jesse Teplitzky, the new men’s head basketball coach at SMC. Coach Teplitzky, effectively known as “Coach T,” could be considered somewhat of a rarity in the head coaching world, maybe not because of his coaching style or his coaching methods, but due to the fact that he has amassed 10 years of college coaching experience at three different schools by the age of 29. When asked if he thought his age would affect his ability to lead the Santa Monica basketball program at all, Teplitzky was confident in saying that it would not. “Players respect coaches who work hard for them. If you show your players that you’ve invested in their lives athletically as well as academically, age isn’t an issue,” he said. Since the days of hall of fame coach John McMullen, SMC men’s basketball has been on somewhat of a downward spiral, but Teplitzky insists that with the foundation laid by McMullen, the program will be able to return to its previous winning tradition. “It’s a great opportunity for me as a young coach to have Coach McMullen close at hand for guidance. He has been very gracious as I have transitioned into this position,” Teplitzky said. Coach Teplitzky began his coaching career as a student assistant at Northern Colorado and in 1998, became an assistant coach at Metro State, where he was part of a coaching staff that guided Metro State to two NCAA Division II national championships. After his four-year tenure at Metro State, Teplitzky went on to be an assistant coach at Ohlone Community College in the San Francisco where he again tasted success, helping lead Ohlone to two conference championships in three seasons. After three successful seasons at OCC, Teplitzky ventured to Chabot Community College in Hayward and served as assistant coach from 2005 until the present. SMC will be Teplitzky’s first chance to run his own program and he is optimistic about next season’s team and eager to help his new players succeed on and off the court. “I’ve been impressed by [the players’] willingness to accept a new coaching staff and their ambitions to succeed at SMC and beyond. It’s my job to help them see that ambition can become a reality. My top priorities are to make sure that returning players are on track to graduate next year and to continue to recruit student athletes for next season,” he said. It also seems that Teplitzky has managed to gain the support of his new players despite his short tenure at SMC. Returning player Eric Berman had nothing but good things to say: “Coach T is not only concerned with making sure we as players are successful, he’s concerned that his players are successful in their lives period.”
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