California State University, East Bay Women's Basketball

In June 2022, Jenny Thigpin was named head coach for the the Cal State East Bay women’s basketball program. Since taking over the program, there have been three All-CCAA Second Team selections and four All-CCAA Honorable Mention selections for Cal State East Bay over three seasons.  Thigpin comes to Hayward after serving most recently as assistant coach at Northern Arizona University. While with the Lumberjacks, Thigpin primarily focused on coaching post players. The 2024-25 season saw nine wins for the program and two Pioneers were named All-CCAA Honorable Mention.  In 2023-24, she led the Pioneers to a record of 11-17 overall. Two members of the team received CCAA postseason honors, including one second team selection and one for honorable mention.  In her first season at the helm for the Pioneers in 2022-23, the team went 14-12 overall. Two Pioneers received All-CCAA Second Team honors and one was named Honorable Mention.  With Thigpin on the coaching staff at NAU, the team reached the Big Sky Championship game in 2021-22.. Following the 2020-21 regular season, the Lumberjacks took third place in the postseason Women’s Basketball Invitational.  Prior to NAU, Thigpin coached two seasons as an assistant on staff at Boston University, where she was the offensive coordinator and also focused on post players at BU.  Head coaching in the NCAA Division II West Region is nothing new to Thigpin. She was the head coach at Dixie State University (now known as Utah Tech) from 2014 to 2016. Prior to serving as head coach, she was an assistant coach at Dixie State during the 2013-14 season.  Prior to Dixie State, Thigpin served on the coaching staff at Fresno Pacific University where she served as recruiting and defensive coordinator.  Before coaching college basketball, Thigpin was the head varsity coach at Buchanan High School in Clovis, California.  Her collegiate playing career includes her senior season at Fresno State, and three seasons at Arizona State University.  Thigpin earned her Bachelor’s degree at Fresno State and a Master’s degree in early childhood development in special education credential from Fresno Pacific University. In spring 2024, Thigpin earned a Master's in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University Irvine. 

Norm Alston was hired as head coach for men's and women's cross country and track & field in December 2022. Alston is also a 2018 inductee into the Pioneers Hall of Fame with his success as a student-athlete.  As a cross country head coach at East Bay, he has seen success on the course with the runners he coached including Cole McKain twice reaching All-CCAA men's cross country honors and Kimberly Lima reaching the All-CCAA women's cross country team in 2023.  On the track, multiple CCAA medals were garnered by student-athletes since 2023 under Alston's direction. In 2024, Matthew Morgon earned a bronze medal in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and Jenna Rodriguez twice won silver in the 800 meters at the CCAA Championships. Alston was a track athlete in the long and triple jump, as he represented Cal State Hayward and also has represented the United States team in overseas competitions and became a three-time All-American during his college years. His personal best in the long jump was 27 feet, 3 inches and for the triple jump was 53 feet, 4 inches. Also, he had a personal best in the 100 meters of 10.52 seconds and 200 meters with a time of 21.7 seconds. Alston also qualified for the 1984 Olympic Trials in the long jump.  Alston is one of the most decorated jumpers in Pioneer history. He competed for the men’s track and field team from 1980-81 and was a three-time All-American. He helped the Pioneers capture back-to-back Far Western Conference (FWC) team championships, finishing off a run of seven straight league titles that began in 1975. Alston was FWC champion in the long jump in both 1980 and 1981 to go along with top-three individual finishes in the triple jump both seasons. He earned All-America honors in both events at the 1980 NCAA Division II Championships. The following year, he repeated as an All-American and claimed long jump titles at the West Coast Relays, Sacramento Relays, and Bruce Jenner Games. In 1981, he set a school record in the Long Jump that still stands 37 years later.   Coach Norm Alston received his bachelor’s degree in recreation from California State University, Hayward and master’s degree in kinesiology. Now Alston comes full circle in the Pioneer community being the Head Coach for Cal State East Bay track and field and cross country. Coach Alston’s goal for Cal State East Bay is to make athletes faster and jump further along with having a winning program.

In July 2025, Naomi Hunt joined Cal State East Bay as Assistant Women's Basketball Coach.  Prior to joining the Pioneers, Hunt served as Assistant Women's Basketball Coach at Concordia University Irvine where she had several roles including film coordinator, travel coordinator, academic mentor, recruiting and scouting and operations. While coaching at CUI, the Golden Eagles reached the PacWest Tournament in 2023-24. Hunt coached one PacWest Freshman of the Year and three All-Conference selections while at CUI.  On the court, Hunt played at Long Beach State and UC Irvine. At The Beach, she averaged 12.2 points-per-game and 3.9 rebounds-per-game. She earned All-Big West honors following her freshman and sophomore seasons. As a freshman, Hunt made a record 49 3-pointers and finished her Long Beach State career with 144 3-pointers.  At UC Irvine, Hunt was on a Big West Conference championship team in 2023 and led the program to a pair of WNIT appearances. Hunt finished her collegiate career with 1,161 points scored and 212 3-pointers.  Hunt has a B.A. in Psychology from CSULB, earned in 2021 and a Master's in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from UCI in 2022.   

Deborah Ayres has been part of the Cal State East Bay women's basketball coaching staff since the 2021-22 season.  The 2021-22 season on the staff at CSUEB saw historical accomplishments by the program, which won the CCAA Tournament and hosted the NCAA Division II West Regional as the No. 1 seed.  She has also coached basketball at Stony Brook, California School for the Deaf, Cal State Fullerton, Solano College, Tennessee, Iowa State and Vallejo High School (Calif.).  With her success coaching at Vallejo, Ayres was inducted to the Vallejo Sports Hall of Fame.  Ayres earned a Bachelor's degree in Physical Education from Chico State and a Master's in Sport Management from Tennessee. 

Ayla Granados was named Assistant Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track & Field coach at Cal State East Bay in May 2023. Prior to joining the Pioneers, she coached cross country and track & field at Chabot College from 2021-2023. Granados worked alongside head coach Kyle Robinson in assisting multiple athletes to All-Region finishes at the Northern California Community College Championships and All-American finishes at the CCCAA State Championships including Nico Melendres (800 meters), Muhammed Ahmed (10,000 meters & 5000 meters), and Ariana Chavez (800 meters). At Chabot, she was in charge of composing and facilitating strength and conditioning programs for the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Prior to Chabot College, Granados spent two years coaching at Notre Dame de Namur University, from 2018 to 2020, an NCAA Division II school in the PacWest Conference as an assistant coach. She helped grow the women’s program from a roster of four women her first year, to a roster of 13 by her second year. During her time at NDNU, her primary role was recruiting and setting up visits on campus. In her first season with NDNU, she assisted the Argonauts to a third place finish on the men's side at the 2018 PacWest Cross Country Championships, the highest in program history. The following season, she assisted the men’s cross country team to a second place finish and the women’s team to the fifth place finish at the 2019 PacWest Cross Country Championships, both being the highest finishes in program history.  Prior to NDNU, Granados served as the Assistant Cross Country and Track coach from 2016-2017 under Head Cross Country Coach, Gary Towne at her alma mater, Chico State. During her time as an assistant, both men’s & women’s teams won the CCAA Cross Country Championships. Both teams also won the NCAA Division II West Regional team titles, while multiple individuals earned All-West Region Honors. At the 2016 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships both men’s and women’s teams earned podium spots taking home fourth place team finishes and three Wildcats took home individual All-American honors (Will Reyes, Kyle Medina & Sadie Gastelum)  During the 2017 track season, she assisted multiple women to All-Time Top 10 marks including Sadie Gastelum in the 10,000 meters, Hannah Dorman in the 5,000 meters and McCall Habermehl in the 3000 meter steeplechase.   In 2022, Granados co-founded Renegade Elite, a PAUSATF Elite Development team located out of Oakland, California, where she coaches each athlete who specialize in distances ranging from the 800 meters to the Marathon distance. Most athletes on the team are former Division I & Division II runners from the West Region. The team is currently under a contract with the well-known brand, lululemon.  Granados currently runs competitively at the national level herself, training to hit an Olympic Trials qualifying mark in the 1500 meters or 5000 meters for the 2024 Olympic Trials. She has hit all her personal bests in later years of her running career - 2:07 for 800 meters (2021), 4:12 for 1500 meters (2021), 9:06 for 3000 meters (2019) and 15:48 for 5000 meters (2021). She currently trains with a team located out of Stanford University known as Peninsula Distance Club and is coached by Dena Evans, one of the most decorated female distance coaches in recent years.  Before her time with Peninsula Distance Club, Granados had a successful collegiate running career at Chico State under head coach Gary Towne. During her time as a Wildcat, she broke the 1500 meter school record, which she currently holds and earned CCAA Runner of the Year in 2013, earned All-West Region honors in cross country in 2012 and 2013, and All-American honors in both cross country and track in 2013 and 2014. Prior to Chico State, she ran for Butte College in Oroville, California where she holds the 5000 meter school record and earned All-American honors in the 1500 meters and 5000 meters at the CCCAA 2012 Track & Field Championships.  Granados graduated with her bachelors degree in business management at Chico State in 2017 and is currently working towards her MBA at NDNU.

Arrianna Custodio was named Assistant Golf Coach for Cal State East Bay in 2023 following her playing career as a Pioneer. Her playing career finished with a historical run for the Pioneers, who reached match play in the NCAA Division II National Championships in May 2023. At the NCAA Division II Championship, her third round, season low score of 69 helped the Pioneers climb the team leaderboard to advance to match medal play. Academically, Custodio excelled as well, as she is a three-time WGCA All-American Scholar, a CCAA All-Academic Award recipient and a recipient of the D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.  Before golfing for the Pioneers, Custodio attended Sacramento City College and graduated from Elk Grove High School.   

Miles Brookins joined the Cal State East Bay women's basketball staff in 2024 as Assistant Coach.  Brookins previously coached as a Graduate Assistant for men's basketball at Concordia University Irvine in 2023-24. Brookins' playing career included his first two seasons at LaSalle, and final three seasons playing at CSUN. Throughout his entire playing career as an NCAA Division I student-athlete, he amassed 303 points, 152 rebounds and 37 blocks in 69 games.  He played high school basketball for Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California where his team finished a season 33-3 and No. 15 in the USA Today Top-25 poll. Brookins was a Second Team All-Trinity League Selection as a senior.