A talented coach with extensive experience over a variety of college divisions, Darren French returns for his third season with the Cal State LA men’s basketball program as the associate head coach. French was promoted to his current position prior to the beginning of the 2019-20 season.
French was recently named as one of Silver Wade Media’s “50 Impactful Division II Assistant Coaches.”
He helped the Golden Eagles battle through an injury-plagued 2019-20 season. Cal State LA recorded one of the best non-conference performances in program history that included wins over Azusa Pacific, Biola, Fresno Pacific and Northwest Nazarene, Biola. Cal State LA was able to reach the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament for a second straight season.
French helped the Golden Eagles to one of their most successful seasons in years in 2018-19. The Golden Eagles reached the semi-finals of the CCAA Tournament for only the third time in program history and won 18 games, which was the most since the 1999-2000 season.
Cal State LA has an overall record of 31-28 with back-to-back CCAA Tournament appearances in French’s first two years with the program
French has NCAA Division I and II experience and most recently served as an assistant coach at nearby East LA College.
French spent four years at East LA College and helped lead the Huskies a 95-28 overall record and to three straight Elite Eight appearances. The Huskies also earned back-to-back South Coast Conference championships
In his first season with the program, French helped guide the Huskies to the CCCAA State Tournament as a No. 13 seed and the team embarked on a modern-day Cinderella run. The Huskies won a play-in game to reach the tournament and then won five straight games to earn the school’s first-ever championship game appearance.
French also has extensive CCAA experience. He was an assistant coach at Cal State East Bay from 2010-13 and recruited conference Freshmen of the Year Jacari Whitfield. He was also an assistant coach at Cal State San Bernardino from 2006-08 and helped the Coyotes to their first-ever Division II Final Four appearance in 2007 and a conference championship in 2008.
He also served for one season at Howard College in Texas under legendary junior college coach Mark Adams, who is now the associate head coach at Texas Tech. French helped the team advance to the Region 5 tournament semi-finals and also played a major role in recruiting the 2009-10 nationally-ranked Howard College team that won the NJCAA National Championship.
French began his collegiate coaching career at the University of Oregon, where he helped the team to a third-place finish in the Pac-10 and an NCAA tournament bid ion 1999-2000. He worked with NBA draftee Bryan Bracey, who was a second-round pick of the San Antonio Spurs and Fred Jones, who was a first-round pick of the Indiana Pacers.
He was an assistant coach at Ventura College in 2000-01 and helped develop Desmond Penigar, who was the 2003 Big West Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player and a 2018 California Community College Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.
French then spent three years at UC Riverside, where he helped recruit and develop 2003 Big West Freshman of the Year Nate Carter.
He then spent a year at Tyler Junior College, where he was responsible for on-floor coaching, player development and recruiting for a program that had five player sign Division I scholarships in 2004-05 and one year as the head coach at Colorado Northwestern Community College in 2005-06 before joining the program at Cal State San Bernardino.
French earned his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology at Cal State San Bernardino and his Master’s degree in Physical Education from Azusa Pacific.
