Fil-Am Magpayo gets 5-year extension as UC Riverside head coach

ABS-CBN News

Posted at Apr 01 2023 06:16 PM

From UCR Men's Basketball Twitter
From UCR Men's Basketball Twitter

Mike Magpayo, the first US NCAA Division I men's basketball head coach of Filipino descent, has signed a five-year extension with the University of California Riverside (UCR).

This means he will stay as head coach for the Highlanders until the 2027-28 season. 

A report posted on the school's website said Magpayo's new contract comes on the heels of UCR's best season in the program's 20-plus year history in Division I. 

Under Magpayo, Riverside finished the 2022-23 season with a 22-12 record. This made him the fastest UCR head coach to secure 25 Big West victories.

"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 team bagged nine All-Big West awards and five specialty awards in the three years under Magpayo's direction.

Magpayo also received the 2022 Rising Coaches Trailblazer Award. 

"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," said UCR Athletics Director Wesley Mallette. 

Magpayo became UCR head coach in 2020 when he succeeded David Patrick, who left the Highlanders to become an associate head coach at the University of Arkansas.

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