California State University, Los Angeles Women's Basketball

  After a tremendous 2021-22 campaign that included great athletic and academic achievements, Torino Johnson returns for his fourth season as the head coach of Cal State LAs womens basketball program. Johnson orchestrated a brilliant return to play for the Golden Eagles in 2021-22 and Cal State LA put together a season for the ages with a young and exciting roster primed for even greater things moving forward. Johnson led the Golden Eagles to a third-place finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, which matched the best conference finish in program history. Cal State LA went on to win a first-round game in the CCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 and the Golden Eagles built a double-digit halftime lead against eventual champion Cal State East Bay in the semifinals in another strong showing. After starting the season with a 4-8 mark, the Golden Eagles got hot down the stretch and won eight of its last 10 regular-season contests to finish third in the conference with a 12-7 record. Cal State LA finished the season with an overall record of 14-13. The Golden Eagles claimed the CCAA Freshman of the Year award for a second straight season when Lily Buggs won the honor in voting by the conferences head coaches and Cal State LA placed four players on the All-Conference team for a second straight season. After the season, Cal State LA was among those schools honored by the Womens Basketball Coaches Association for having a team grade point average above a 3.0. It was a sensational return to competition for the Golden Eagles after the 2020-21 season was canceled by COVID. Johnson, a talented coach with a lengthy record of success, began the process of rebuilding the Golden Eagles in earnest when he took over as the head coach prior to the 2019-20 season. Johnson had spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Cal State LA. Johnson was able to institute a prolific offense attack that shattered program records in 3-point shooting. The team set new single-season marks for 3-pointers made with 190, 3-pointers attempted with 532 and 3-point percentage made with .357. The previous mark for 3-pointers made had stood since 2002-03. Johnson led the Golden Eagles to a three-game improvement from 2018-19 and to a four-game increase in CCAA victories. Cal State LA finished just one game out of a conference tournament spot. In addition, the Golden Eagles earned just the second CCAA Freshman of the Year award in program history and the first since the 2003-04 season when Nicole Flennaugh nabbed the honor. It was the first major conference award for the Golden Eagles since a Newcomer of the Year award in 2011-12. Johnson was a steadying force as the top assistant coach during a challenging 2018-19 season that saw the Golden Eagles slip to a 9-18 overall record and miss the CCAA Tournament. Johnson was active revamping Cal State LAs lineup with a solid group of returners and promising list of newcomers. In his first year with the Golden Eagles, Johnson helped lead Cal State LA to a 14-15 overall record, including a 13-9 record in conference play in 2017-18. The Golden Eagles had just one senior on their team and yet finished just one game out of third place in the CCAA. Cal State LA had a 9-4 record at home and qualified for the CCAA Tournament. Before coming to Cal State LA, Johnson was one of the most decorated and influential high school coaches in California while transforming Palisades Charter High School into a Southern California power. He led his teams to four Los Angeles City CIF Championships in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016 and his teams made seven California State tournament appearances. He concluded his high school coaching career with an overall record of 203-134. Johnson earned multiple coaching accolades from his peers and was a four-time recipient of the Los Angeles City Section Coach of the Year (2012, 2015-17) and was the Cal-High California State Coach of the Year in 2016. In addition to his success at Palisades Charter High School, Johnson supported Team USA as a court coach in 2015, giving him the opportunity to develop and train USA Olympic Players and future collegiate student-athletes. Following that experience, he piloted the Los Angeles region USA Basketball Open Court basketball program. The national program provided safe spaces for boys and girls 18-years-old and under to learn and play pick-up basketball on select Saturday evening. Johnson is a lifelong learner and prides himself on relationship-building. His coaching mentors include George Raveling, Rich Sheubrooks, Gary Colson, Jim Burson, Colleen Matsuhara, and the late John Wooden. Johnson is a Southern California native who attended Manual Arts and Susan Miller Dorsey High schools in Los Angeles. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Sports and Health Sciences with a coaching concentration from American Public University in Charles Town, West Virginia.

A talented coach with NCAA Division I experience, David Elliott returns for his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Cal State LA womens basketball program. Elliott has made a big impact with the program and helped the Golden Eagles to some outstanding achievements in their return to play in 2021-22. Elliott helped the Golden Eagles match their best-ever finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association last season and to their first CCAA Tournament victory since 2014. After going 8-2 in their last 10 conference games, the Golden Eagles finished third in the CCAA with a 12-7 record and had a 14-13 overall record. Elliott has been a major factor in recruiting since joining the program and Cal State LA has boasted the last two CCAA Freshmen of the Year in Lily Buggs and Nicole Flennaugh and the first recruiting class since his arrival included two other All-CCAA players in Jada Johnson and Anai Washington. In his first season, Elliott was instrumental in the Golden Eagles improving their overall win total by three games in 2019-20, and their conference victory total by four games. He helped the Golden Eagles revitalize their offensive production as Cal State LA set new program record for 3-pointers made in a season. Elliott came to Cal State LA from Cornell University, where he helped lead the womens basketball program to its first Ivy League Tournament appearance during his tenure. He was with Cornell from 2017-19 and was in charge of scouting and post-player development. He was also involved in scheduling and negotiating game guarantees for the program. Elliott also organized statistics from Hoops IQ advanced analytics for game planning. His efforts in recruiting led to the third-ranked recruiting class in the Ivy League in 2018, which was the programs highest ranking in five years. Before joining Cornell, Elliott was the recruiting coordinator at the University of Denver from 2015-17. His recruiting success resulted in a Bluestar Top-50 recruiting class honorable mention in 2017 and included the 2018 Summit League Freshman of the Year. The 2016 class was rated second in the Summit League and included a pair of All-Conference players. Elliott was the associate head womens basketball coach at Knox College in 2014-15 and an assistant coach in 2013-14. He organized and led all recruiting efforts and helped lead an offense that was ranked second in the country in scoring (90.0 points per game) in 2015. The 2015 recruiting class produced the most wins in school history. He got his collegiate coaching career started at St. John Fisher College as a graduate assistant coach from 2010-12 and he also spent one year at Columbia University in New York in 2012-13. Elliott earned his Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology at the University of Arizona and picked up his Masters degree in organizational learning and HR development at St. John Fischer College.

A valuable member of Cal State LAs womens basketball program, Kameron McClinton returns for his fifth season as an assistant coach with the Golden Eagles. He has been a trusted part of the program through a transitional period and helped Cal State LA to a much-improved 2019-20 season. McClinton actually began his time with the Golden Eagles as a practice player from 2014-16. He learned opponents offensive plays and defensive schemes for practice and he also assisted with players skill development. He joined the coaching staff prior to the 2016-17 season and has added responsibilities each year. He assists with practice drills, works with skill development, and coordinates travel and gear. He is also directly involved in the programs community service outreach and is active in the Cal State LA athletic department. McClinton earned his bachelors degree in business administration: management from Cal State LA in 2017.  

Cal State Monterey Bay head women’s basketball coach Sarah Hopkins-Chery announced the hiring of Kaylin Randhawa as an assistant coach with the Otters program. She started her position on Aug. 1, 2024.   Randhawa joins the staff after a standout collegiate playing career. The Turlock native helped lead Sacramento State to its first regular season conference title in program history during the 2022-23 season. The Hornets also claimed their first ever Big Sky Tournament title, culminating in the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance.   During her final season on the hardwood, Randhawa averaged 9.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest while ranking second on the team with 73 assists. For her career, the Pitman High School product scored over 1,000 points and played in 143 games, suiting up at Pacific and Utah State on top of her final season at Sacramento State.   Randhawa continued with the Hornet’s program, serving as the Director of Player Development last season before teaching fifth grade and coaching at her high school alma mater.   Randhawa earned her degree in integrated studies at Utah State and then completed her multiple subject teaching credential at Sacramento State.   She is the daughter of Jagtar and Gurmit Randhawa and has one brother named Amar and a sister named Parmine.