UC Santa Barbara Gauchos basketball

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos basketball history

University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA)
UC Santa Barbara Events Center, aka The Thunderdome
Big West Conference

Current head coach: Joe Pasternack (2017-)

  • Asst: Larry Lewis (2019-)
  • Asst: Derek Glasser (2022-)
  • Asst: Skye Ettin (2023-)
  • Asst: Brian Eskildsen (2023-)
  • DBO: Andrew Payne (2017-)

Post-Season:

  • National Championships:  0
  • Final Four Appearances:  0
  • Sweet Sixteen Appearances:  0
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances:  7  (1988, 1990, 2002, 2010, 2011, 2021, 2023)
  • NCAAT Overall Record:  1-7
  • NIT Championships:  0
  • NIT Appearances:  5  (1989, 1992, 1993, 2003, 2008)
  • NIT Overall Record:  0-5
  • CBI Appearances:  1  (2015)
  • CBI Overall Record:  0-1
  • CIT Appearances:  1  (2012)
  • CIT Overall Record:  0-1
  • Vegas 16 Appearances:  1  (2016)
  • Vegas 16 Overall Record:  1-1
  • NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances:  2  (1961, 1963)
  • NCAA Division II Tournament Overall Record:  3-2
  • NAIA Tournament Appearances:  1  (1941)
  • NAIA Tournament Overall Record:  3-2

Conference Titles (CCAA, WCC, Big West):

Award Winners:




UC Santa Barbara head coaches:

Coach Tenure Record Conf. Titles NCAA Apps. Nat. Champ
Joe Pasternack 2017-Pres 148-68 2 2 0
Bob Williams 1998-2017 313-260 4 3 0
Jerry Pimm 1983-98 222-201 0 2 0
Ed DeLacy 1978-83 51-83 0 0 0
Ralph Barkey 1966-78 169-144 0 0 0
Arthur Gallon 1957-66 122-109 2^ 2^ 0
Willie Wilton 1937-43, 46-51, 52-57 205-163 1^ 1^ 0
Lawrence Findlay 1951-52 7-20 0 0 0
no team 1943-46
Paul Jones 1936-37 2-8
Harold Davis 1929-36 36-62
Dudley DeGroot 1927-29 8-14
Otho J. Gilliland 1922-27 27-11
Alice Bradley 1921-22 8-5

Key: Conf. Titles= Regular Season only, NCAA Apps= NCAA Tournament Appearances, Nat. Champ= NCAA Tournament Champions

^ These conference titles and tournament appearances came when the UC Santa Barbara program was at either the NAIA or NCAA Division II level; UCSB moved up to Division I prior to the 1963-64 season

NOTE: Overall program records on this page do not include anything later vacated by the NCAA.