Cal State East Bay Director of Athletics Jason Carmichael announced Thursday the hiring of Bryan Rooney as the ninth head coach of the CSUEB men’s basketball program.
Rooney joins the Pioneers after spending the last 10 seasons as the head coach at California Maritime Academy, where he accumulated 200 victories and captured seven California Pacific (CalPac) Conference championships. Rooney replaces former CSUEB head coach Gus Argenal, who stepped down in August to take a coaching position at the University of Nevada.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Coach Rooney to Cal State East Bay as our next men’s basketball coach,” said Carmichael. “He has an outstanding reputation within the coaching field and has achieved tremendous success at Cal Maritime. I believe Bryan’s personality and energy will be an excellent fit with our team, and I’m excited to watch him continue to grow our program into a championship contender.”
Rooney’s tenure at Cal Maritime was unquestionably the most successful in the school’s history. In his third season, the Keelhaulers won the CalPac championship, which marked Cal Maritime’s first intercollegiate championship in any sport. Rooney’s squads broke the program record for victories five times in his first eight years, culminating in 2013-14 when the team notched a 27-6 record and finished the season ranked No. 17 in the final National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) poll.
Cal Maritime qualified for the NAIA National Tournament five straight years under Rooney’s watch, and his peers voted him CalPac Coach of the Year six times in 10 seasons. He has coached 32 All-Conference honorees, five All-Americans, and 10 Academic All-Americans. Rooney also received the CalPac’s Champions of Character Coaching award in 2016.
“My family and I are honored to have the opportunity to lead Cal State East Bay basketball,” Rooney commented. “This is an extremely exciting time for Pioneer Athletics and I’m thrilled to be joining the team. The collective vision of President Morishita and Mr. Carmichael was a very important factor in our decision to leave a very special place in Cal Maritime. I look forward to working tirelessly with the rest of the coaching staff to provide a tremendous experience for our student-athletes and be a source of great pride for East Bay students, faculty, staff and alumni.”
A native of Stockton, Calif., Rooney played one year of Division I football for Saint Mary’s College before transferring to San Joaquin Delata College to compete in basketball for two seasons. He finished his collegiate career at Dominican University, where he was an All-Conference point guard and won the school’s Athlete of the Year award as a senior. In his two seasons at Dominican, the Penguins broke their program record for wins twice, posted an overall record of 45-22, and captured the university’s first conference championship.
Rooney earned his bachelor’s degree in literature from Dominican in 2003, then served for two seasons as the head assistant coach for the Penguins while completing his master’s degree in education. He then spent one season each on the coaching staffs at San Francisco State and Claremont McKenna College before accepting the head coach position at Cal Maritime in 2007.
Rooney now takes over a CSUEB squad coming off a 13-15 record in 2016-17, the team’s most successful season since re-joining NCAA Division II. The Pioneers will enter 2017-18 looking to earn their first-ever berth to the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) postseason tournament.
