COS HIRES FULL-TIME WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACH

Contact: Brent Davis (408) 595-3745

    College of the Sequoias has announced the hiring of Ray Alvarado as its full-time women's basketball coach.

            The 47-year-old Alvarado has been the Lady Giants' coach the past five seasons on a part-time basis. He was hired from an original field of over 20, and becomes a full-time instructor in the COS health and physical education department.

            Alvarado becomes the program's first full-time coach since the legendary Tom Gilcrest resigned in 1992.

            "I would like to to thank the administration for giving me the opportunity to coach at COS the last five years," he said. "I look forward to continuing the success we have started."

Alvarado is coming off his finest hour as COS coach, as the 2015 team finished 29-4 overall, was Central Valley Conference champion with a 12-0 record and ranked in Northern California's final four and state's top eight teams.

            The Giants had a 16-game winning streak broken, losing  66-59 to San Joaquin Delta for the right to advance to the state's final 4 championships. Of Sequoias' four losses, all were to teams in the final 4 and three of them were to state champion Chabot and runnerup Mt. San Antonio.

            It was the highest finish for a COS team since the 1992 squad was state runnerup. The CVC championship broke a Fresno City College streak of seven consecutive.

            Before assuming the Sequoias job, Alvarado had a wealth of basketball coaching experience at both the high school and college level. Most recently, Ray had coached the varsity girls team at Bullard High School in Fresno. His 2007-08 squad went a school-record   27-6.

            Prior to that, Alvarado was the head women's coach at Fresno City College for two seasons, compiling a 42-27 record, a 16-8 conference mark, and led the Rams into the NorCal playoffs both seasons.

            He also coached girls basketball for seven seasons at Sanger High School, earning a section championship in 2000, and also coached the boys team for three seasons, in addition to coaching the boys and girls golf teams. Alvarado, who has been coaching for 27 years, began his career as a varsity assistant at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster.

            Ray is a graduate of Sanger High. He played football at Antelope Valley College and continued his education at Fresno State, earning a bachelor's degree in physical education and a master's degree from United States Sports Academy.

            In addition to his COS duties, for the past three years Alvarado has been one of the lead teachers at the J.E. Young Academic Center in Fresno.

            "Ray has done a phenomenal job during his tenure here at COS and we are looking to build on what he has already done," said Athletic Director Brent Davis. "There are so many benefits to having a full time coach on campus and I am excited that we can offer our women's basketball student athletes this enhanced experience."

RAY ALVARADO'S JUNIOR COLLEGE COACHING RECORD

                                    Season          Conference

2005-06                     21-15                7-5                Fresno City College

2006-07                     21-12                9-3                Fresno City College

2010-11                       8-19                3-7                COS

2011-12                       7-18                3-7                COS

2012-13                     16-11                8-4                COS

2013-14                     23-  7              10-2                COS

2014-15                     29-  4              12-0                COS

7 season total           125-86