Westmont alumnus and assistant coach Landon Boucher has been named the next Warrior men’s basketball head coach, Westmont Athletic Director Dave Odell announced. Boucher takes over for John Moore, who recently ended his coaching career after 27 years at the helm of the Warriors’ program.
“Coach Boucher is a big picture thinker who is not here just to win games but also to build on the tradition set before him,” Odell said. “He brings a strong faith commitment and a real understanding of the college’s academic mission and our aspirations as an athletic program.
“Having been in and around Westmont basketball for almost 40 years, I had a strong sense of what we were looking for in a head coach. In a way, Coach Boucher had an 11-year interview for this job. The last few years, it became quite clear as he made an immediate impact helping recruit many of this year’s GSAC championship team, scouting and developing winning game plans. Landon is ready for the next challenge.”
Boucher played for Westmont under Coach Moore during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, finishing his Warrior career as a 40.7% 3-point shooter. Boucher, who graduated from Westmont in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, later joined the coaching staff of his alma mater as an assistant, a position he held for the past two seasons.
“I want to thank the administration – Gayle Beebe, Mark Sargent and Dave Odell – for trusting in me to lead this program,” Boucher said. “Westmont changed me when I was a student, which is why I feel so honored to have coached at Westmont the past two years, and now moving forward.
“I believe in what we are doing on the court as a basketball team. However, I truly believe in what the institution is doing because I am a product of it. I gave my life to Christ near the end of my time at Westmont as a player and a student. Westmont impacted me more as a person than a basketball player. That is why I am such a big believer in what we are doing at Westmont.”
Odell knows Boucher’s coaching abilities from firsthand experience. From 2013-14, Odell served as head coach of the boys’ basketball team at San Marcos High School with Boucher as a member of the coaching staff.
“I’ve known Landon since before he enrolled at Westmont as a student-athlete,” Odell said. “I was fortunate enough to coach with him for a few years. I’ve always been struck by his ability to relate to and teach a diverse group of athletes.”
Moore, the program’s longest tenured and winningest coach, is confident in his successor being able to fill his shoes.
“He is one of our guys,” Moore said of Boucher. “I would want whoever took over after I was done to be one of our guys.
“I would not have hired Landon as an assistant if I did not think he had great character,” Moore continued. “When I hired Landon, I felt like our program was going to be better because Landon was going to be a part of it.
“He is very good at in-game adjustments and he is also a very good practice coach. He has a strong understanding of the game and communicates things in a way that is crisp, concise and to the point. I think players appreciate that.”
Like his predecessor, Boucher played his junior and senior seasons at Westmont. After playing at Chemeketa College in Salem, Oregon, under head coach David Abderheiden, Boucher made his way to Santa Barbara to play for the Warriors. As it turned out, it was the perfect preparation for his future coaching career.
“The day after my playing career ended at Westmont, I was offered the head boys’ basketball coaching job at what was then called Providence Hall (now Providence School),” Boucher recalled. “That is where I developed much of my coaching philosophy, influenced by Coach Abderheiden and Coach Moore.”
When asked about his coaching philosophy, Boucher replied: “We want to create a culture at Westmont, and what we have been doing, that has a ton of respect for each other, a ton of trust for each other and holds a high level of excellence every single day in practice. If we practice at a high level every single day, the game will just flow from it.
“I want to cultivate an environment where the guys build strong relationships, where they love each other and where they learn to sacrifice and trust one another through the good times but also through the hardships of the season.”
While at Providence, Boucher led the Patriots to their most wins in a single season in school history and their first trip to the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.
The following year, Boucher joined Odell at San Marcos as the junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant. He took over the varsity program in the fall of 2014 and produced a record of 89-36 over the next four years.
During the 2017-18 season, his final year at San Marcos, Boucher led the team to its most wins in a single season in school history (27), a Channel League title and the Royals’ first ever CIF-SS championship. Boucher was named Channel League and CIF-SS Coach of the Year.
Following that success, Boucher left San Marcos and took the assistant coaching position under Moore at Westmont.
“I stepped down right after the season,” Boucher said. “I felt like we had achieved everything we had set out for and I wanted to move on to collegiate basketball. Those guys I had poured my life into for four years were graduating. Instead of starting over, I felt like God was calling me to the college level.”
During Boucher’s two seasons as a Westmont assistant coach, he has helped lead the Warriors to consecutive NAIA National Tournament appearances and a 2019-20 Golden State Athletic Conference regular season championship. The conference title was Westmont’s first since 2012-13.
“I have appreciated the amount of time John Moore has dedicated to me, especially in the last two years,” Boucher said. “He has also shown me what it is like to be a man of God in a leadership role – coaching for wins, but also coaching for Christ.
“Coach Moore has done a phenomenal job of leading this program to a really high level. I hope to continue to carry this program in the way that he led.”
Moore does not leave the cupboard bare for his successor. The Warriors will return 12 of the 14 rostered players from last season, including four starters.
“I am tremendously proud of the guys we are returning in the program,” Boucher said. “I am thrilled to coach my first season with this group of guys.”
Boucher, who holds a master’s degree in coaching and athletics administration from Concordia University Irvine, becomes the 16th head coach in the history of the program, which began 80 years ago in 1940.
https://athletics.westmont.edu/news/2020/5/8/200508_MBK.aspx
