B.J. Foster has been named Interim Head Coach for the Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball team by Director of Athletics Jennifer Milo.
The appointment follows the departure of Jim Saia, who left his position at CSUSM after five seasons to take the head job at Cal State L.A. on Monday.
“Coach Saia built a program from scratch into a national contender at the NAIA level and now at the NCAA DII level. I want to thank him for all of his hard work and dedication to CSUSM, and for providing the foundation for our program,” said Milo. “I am confident in what the future holds for our men’s basketball team and am excited to see what the team accomplishes this season under Coach Foster’s leadership.”
The 2016-17 season will be the first for Foster as the leading man following 14 years as an assistant coach at four different institutions in Southern California – Point Loma (2002-2004), Vanguard (2004-2006), Biola (2006-2013) and CSUSM (2013-2016). His teams have gone 298-156 (.656) during his tenure as an assistant and have won 20 or more games in eight different seasons.
“It has been a great three years working with Jim on building a strong program and I’d like to thank him for helping me develop into the coach I am today,” said Foster. “I’d like to thank Jennifer Milo on trusting me to run this team. I think every assistant coach works to be a head coach, and I am truly grateful for this opportunity.”
Foster has helped guide the Cougars to a 77-18 (.811) mark since arriving in 2013. He was the key recruiter for the 2013-14 season in which the Cougars went 32-2 overall, spent seven weeks as the NAIA No. 1-ranked team and won their first-ever conference title.
In 2014-15, Foster once again helped recruit another class of Cougars that went on to go 30-4, win a conference title and advance to the NAIA quarterfinals.
This year, the Cougars’ first in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and NCAA Division II Candidacy Year 2, CSUSM went 15-12 overall (11-9 CCAA) and would have qualified for the CCAA Tournament had it been eligible.
In all, Foster has helped mentor three NAIA All-Americans and 12 All-CCAA selections over his first three seasons on campus.
Coach Saia is moving back to Los Angeles, where he spent many years prior to coming to CSUSM. He was the assistant coach at UCLA (1997-2003) under Steve Lavin and spent 2004-05 as interim head coach at USC. Mike Garrett, currently the AD at CSULA, was the AD at USC at the time of Saia’s tenure as interim head coach.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity at CSUSM and for the support of Jennifer Milo and the administration. It has been a wonderful six years here on campus and I am proud of what we accomplished on starting a program from scratch,” said Saia. “The program is in great shape, and it’ll be taken to greater heights. The future is bright at CSUSM.”
Saia was named head coach at CSUSM in 2010, inheriting a program that existed only on paper. He attracted a crop of NCAA Division I and junior college standouts to join him in San Marcos for the inaugural 2011-12 season.
In all, Saia mentored five NAIA All-Americans, 18 all-conference selections, spent 11 weeks as the NAIA No. 1, and had two 30-plus win seasons. He earned Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Coach of the Year twice and won two A.I.I. Conference Championships. He accomplished all of this without the confines of a true home gymnasium.
Foster will be the leading man for the 2016-17 season, the Cougars’ first in the The Sports Center, CSUSM’s brand-new on-campus arena.
Foster is the son of long-time PLNU head coach Ben Foster, who led the Sea Lion program from 1974-1988 and 1989-1992. Both B.J. and Ben are in the school’s top 20 in career points, single-season scoring average and point total.
Milo will conduct a national search for a permanent head coach following the 2016-17 regular season.
Photo Courtesy Cal State San Marcos Athletics
