Martin Bahar, with 14 years of collegiate coaching experience and nine trips to the postseason, has been named the new assistant coach with San Diego, head coach Sam Scholl announced.

In his role at USD, Bahar will be the Toreros’ recruiting coordinator, including an emphasis on international recruiting, as well as coach all facets of the team. Bahar comes to San Diego after spending the last four-plus seasons at USC.

“Our program is thrilled to add Martin Bahar to our coaching staff as an assistant coach,” said Scholl. “Martin has tremendous experience and has worked for great programs, coaches and universities such as Princeton, Fairfield and USC. He puts a very high value on building relationships each day. This strong characteristic will greatly impact our current players and future players that we recruit. He is also a great teacher of the game and is well-schooled in player development and game preparation. We are focused on building a championship-contending tradition at USD, and Martin’s loyalty, strong work ethic, and great desire to represent the University of San Diego will contribute to that process.”

A graduate of Vanderbilt with coaching staff stops at Georgetown, Princeton, Fairfield and USC, Bahar has helped teams reach a total of five NCAA Tournaments and nine overall postseason appearances in 13 full seasons. In the last four-plus campaigns at USC, Bahar helped lift the Trojans to three 20-win seasons and postseason appearances in his role as the director of scouting and assistant coach.

“I could not be more excited and energized to join Coach Sam Scholl’s staff here at the University of San Diego,” said Bahar. “The University’s Changemaker mentality represents a perfect ideological fit for how my family views the world and we will fully embrace USD’s mission, vision, and values in our day-to-day lives. I cannot wait to get on the court and work with our scholar-athletes, developing them not only as basketball players but as great men.”

Bahar joined USC in July 2015 as the director of scouting, a role he filled for three of his four-plus years with the Trojans. In 2017-18, he was an assistant coach and helped lift the team to 24 wins and an NIT appearance. During his second season with the Trojans in 2016-17, Bahar was a member of a coaching staff that piloted USC to its most wins in program history (26) and reach the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

Prior to USC, Bahar was a part of the Fairfield coaching staff for four seasons from 2011 to 2015. After starting out as the team’s director of basketball operations in 2011-12, he was promoted to assistant coach in 2012-13 and stayed through the 2014-15 season. He guided the Stags to two trips to the CollegeInsiders.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), including a run to the semifinals in 2011-12. He also recruited some of the program’s top scorers over those four seasons and saw four players sign professional overseas contracts. He played a key role in recruiting Tyler Nelson, who finished his Fairfield career as the program’s all-time leading scorer and is currently playing in the G-League for the Greensboro Swarm.

Bahar spent two seasons with Princeton prior to Fairfield, where he was an assistant coach for the 2011 Ivy League champions and NCAA Tournament team that won 25 games. In his first year with the Tigers as the director of basketball operations, Princeton won 22 games and finished first in the country in defense in 2009-10.

Bahar got his collegiate coaching start with Georgetown from 2006 to 2009. In his three seasons, the Hoyas won the BIG EAST twice and reached the postseason three times, including a Final Four run in 2007.

A former undergraduate manager with the Commodores – a program that made three postseason appearances from 2004 to 2006 – Bahar has a dual-degree in Communications and Spanish from Vanderbilt (’06) and master’s degree in Communications, Culture, and Technology from Georgetown (’08).

A native of Potomac, Md., Bahar is married to the former Terrill Keiner. They have one child, Beverly Lila.

Bahar and his family have been active with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk after his late sister, Madeline, passed away from leukemia in 2009.

Bahar fills out the San Diego coaching staff after former assistant Terrence Rencher resigned in November.

Martin Bahar, Coaching Career (14 years)
2015-2019: USC

• 2018-20: Director of Scouting (1+ season)
• 2017-18: Assistant Coach (1 season)
• 2015-17: Director of Scouting (2 seasons)

2012-15: Fairfield, Assistant Coach
2011-12: Fairfield, Director of Basketball Operations
2010-11: Princeton, Assistant Coach
2009-10: Princeton, Director of Basketball Operations
2008-09: Georgetown, Video Coordinator
2006-08: Georgetown, Graduate Assistant

https://usdtoreros.com/news/2019/12/16/mens-basketball-bahar-added-as-assistant-coach.aspx