A talented coach with championship experience, Ivan Barahona returns for his second season with the Golden Eagle men’s basketball program as an assistant coach. He helped Cal State LA through a transitional 2014-15 season and the Golden Eagles finished the season ranked 14th in the nation in scoring defense.
Cal State LA was 10-16 overall and 8-14 in conference play last season.
He came to Cal State LA from Pacific Hills High School, where he spent 14 years, including the last nine as the varsity head coach. He led Pacific Hills to four CIF titles in five playoff appearances, highlighted by the CIF State Championship in the 2012-13 campaign.
While at Pacific Hills, Barahona posted a 203-80 record (.717 winning percentage) and coached eight players who went on to NCAA Division I schools. During his tenure at Pacific Hills, he was named the CIF Coach of the Year three times (2008, 2012, 2013) and was the Cal Hi Sports Division V State Coach of the Year in 2009.
Barahona is also the head coach of the El Salvador Senior National Team. While taking over as head coach, he has guided El Salvador to a second-place finish in the Central American Olympic Games and a second-place finish in the COCABA Final Four Tournament. Under this guidance, El Salvador has climbed to the top ranking in the Central America FIBA.
Barahona graduated from California Lutheran University in 2000 with a degree in Kinesiology. He played high school basketball at Pacific Hills High School, where he led the Bruins to two CIF championships and was named first-team All-CIF twice. He played two years of collegiate basketball at Cal Lutheran.
He is married to his wife, Olga, and they have a son, Ivan, who is 11 and a daughter, Eva, who is nine.
