FROM COACH PAGE 1 Former Division II assistant coach to lead the Corsairs
SANTA MONICA COLLEGE At 29, Jesse Teplitzky might very well be one of the youngest head coaches in all of college basketball.
But his coaching philosophy is anything but immature. Announced as the new head coach of the SMC men’s basketball team on Thursday, Teplitzky spoke about his personal recipe for building a successful team, starting with instilling both modesty and common courtesy into his players.
“There is something that comes with being an athlete on a college campus,” he said. “I want the kids on campus day-to-day to be humble and handle that in the right way and not take advantage of that kind of stature.”
A native of Colorado, Teplitzky started playing basketball in fifth grade, attending basketball camps and clinics throughout his childhood.
His playing career ended when his coaching career started — at the University of North Colorado where he worked for two years as a student manager for the men’s basketball team, which at the time was in Division II.
When Teplitzky discovered he had a passion for coaching, he transferred to Metro State College in Denver where he worked as an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team while finishing---- up his bachelor’s degree in human performance and sport. He stayed with the team until 2002 when he received his master’s degree in physical education.
During his stint at Metro State College, the team won the Division II Championship following the 2000 and 2002 seasons.
But despite his success on the team as an assistant, he graduated to find there was no room for him full-time on the coaching staff. That’s when a fellow assistant coach on the team, John Peterson, received an offer for the head coaching job for the men’s basketball team at Ohlone Community College in Fremont, California. Joining Peterson as an assistant coach, Teplitzky packed his bags and headed west.
Though he found success as an assistant at Ohlone, whose team won the Coast Conference North Championship two of the three years he was there, Teplitzky felt he was ready to manage his own team and accepted a part-time head coaching job at Chabot Community College in Hayward during 2005.
Unfortunatley he was head coach for just a few months during the off season when the school announced that it would search for a full-time coach. Though his name was on the list of candidates, Teplitzky ultimately was the runner up for the position and he found himself as an assistant once again.
He comes to Santa Monica College with no in-game head coaching experience.
“I’m sure that I will make mistakes as all first-time head coaches do,” he said. “My mistakes are going to be mistakes that are going to be made from working hard.”
The search committee interviewed five candidates to replace Trevor Shickman, who coached the Corsairs for three seasons.
The basketball season ended in February and Teplitzky will assume the role as head coach in April.
“It was a mutual decision between Trevor and myself,” said Athletic Director Rhonda Hyatt. “He wanted the opportunity to look for other positions, specifically full-time. We were interested in going in a different direction with our basketball team.”
The head coaching position at SMC is part-time and just as he had done at Chabot Community College, Teplitzky will also be teaching several physical education courses at Santa Monica College.
The committee was interested in finding a candidate who fit in with the SMC program personality wise, according to Hyatt.
“Teaching philosophy was on the top of our mind, above basketball and winning and losing,” she said. “So a fit with our college campus was at the top of our list of what we wanted and Jesse really fit that.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2007. Read the original PDF.