UC Riverside Head Men’s Basketball Coach and 2022-23 Big West Coach of the Year, Mike Magpayo, has signed a new five-year deal that will keep him at the helm of the Highlanders’ program through the 2027-28 season. Magpayo’s new contract comes on the heels of UCR’s best season in the program’s 20+ year Division I history. UC Riverside finished the 2022-23 season with a 22-12 record and also saw Magpayo become the fastest UCR Head Men’s Basketball Coach to secure 25 Big West victories.
Leading a staff in its first year together, Magpayo guided UCR to a number of program firsts (in its Division I era) during the 2022-23 season, including its first 20-win season, first 10-win Big West season, a program-record five Big West Player of the Week awards, and its fourth consecutive winning season. His new contract also speaks to the upward trajectory and stability of the Highlanders Men’s Basketball program.
“I love leading this team and our coaches and couldn’t be happier with the success and progress we are experiencing as a group,” said Magpayo. “We are building something special here in a program that our entire university, city and region can be proud of and that means everything.”
UC Riverside’s Men’s Basketball team has won nine All-Big West awards and five specialty awards in the three years under Magpayo’s direction. UCR has also put its stamp on the college basketball world multiple times with Magpayo at the helm, scoring multiple wins over Power 5, Group of 5 and top-tier mid-major opponents.
“Mike’s leadership, approach, commitment and dedication to our student-athletes, coaches and staff’s success and experience has been outstanding and the results speak for themselves,” stated UCR Athletics Director and one of Silver Waves Media’s 100 most impactful people in men’s college basketball, Wesley Mallette. “His involvement and engagement with our University and our community has helped lead the way for our entire Athletics program’s resurgence. This has been a great year for UCR Athletics starting in the fall with our Men’s Soccer team winning the Big West Championship. Men’s Basketball team’s amazing run and top three finish in The Big West this season carried that energy right through the winter. Mike is our second Big West Coach of the Year this year alongside Tim Cupello and that speaks to the type of leadership we have here at UCR.”
Magpayo received a 2022 Rising Coaches Trailblazer Award, presented to individuals who have blazed the way for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion throughout the coaching and sports industry. Magpayo also received the Joe B. Hall Award honor in 2020-21, which is awarded to the top first-year head coach at the men’s Division I level. The nation’s first-ever Asian-American basketball head coach at the men’s Division I level, has also served as the president of the Asian Coaches Association, whose mission is to support and elevate Asian coaches at all levels.
