Cal State Northridge hires Newman as its new coach
Cal State Northridge announced Andy Newman will be its new men's basketball coach Friday.
Newman comes from NCAA Division II Cal State San Bernardino, where he spent five years and coached four seasons — no 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic — with a 91-30 (.752) overall record.
The Coyotes improved each season under Newman's guidance, culminating in a 31-4 record last season and advancing to the NCAA Division II tournament Final Four before losing to eventual champion Nova Southeastern.
It's the second time Newman has been hired by Shawn Chin-Farrell, who was director of athletics at San Bernardino when he hired Newman. Now, in Farrell's first year in the position at CSUN, he looks to Newman again, this time to save the Matadors program.
Newman takes over after a two-year stint by Trent Johnson, who went a combined 14-48 overall, including 7-25 this past season, before resigning in late March, according to the school's press release. The Matadors also won just four of their 20 Big West Conference games.
Johnson was left to pick up the pieces from previous head coach Mark Gottfried, who was placed on administrative leave by CSUN amid an internal investigation into potential rules violations. In Gottfried's three seasons, CSUN went 37-51.
Before Gottfried, it was Reggie Theus at the helm from 2013-18. The Matadors went 44–105 in those five seasons.
Newman has coached in the Big West before. He was an assistant at Cal State Fullerton for 10 seasons, nine as the associate head coach and one year as the interim head coach. He took over at Cal State San Bernardino in 2018 and the team went 15-14 for its first winning season in five years. The Coyotes didn't play the following season due to the pandemic, then went a combined 45-12 the next two seasons.
The Coyotes are coming off arguably their best season in school history with a program-record 31 victories while averaging 88.4 points per game and their deepest run in the NCAA tournament. They were the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular-season and tournament champions and went unbeaten in 11 home games.
Newman, a graduate from Azusa Pacific University, takes over a CSUN program in which two players, junior guard John Wade III and junior forward Adam Afifi, left the team midseason.
Sophomore guard Atin Wright was the team's only bright spot, averaging 16.7 points per game and earning All-Big West honorable mention honors. Atin, however, has entered the transfer portal along with sophomore forward Fidelis Okereke.
The last time CSUN had success was under coach Bobby Braswell, who was at the helm for 17 years (1996-2013) and took the Matadors to two NCAA tournaments. The program's last winning season was under Braswell, going 17-14 in 2008-09.