Joe Pasternack
Joe Pasternack (born April 15, 1977)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
Current conference: Big West Conference
New Orleans record: 54-60 (.474)
UC Santa Barbara record: 148-68 (.685)
Overall record: 202-128 (.612)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 2 (2021, 2023)
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- Big West Regular Season Champion: 2 (2021, 2023)
- Big West Tournament Champion: 2 (2021, 2023)
Awards:
- Big West Coach of the Year: 1 (2021)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2017-present | UC Santa Barbara |
| 2013-2017 | Arizona (assoc. HC) |
| 2011-2013 | Arizona (asst) |
| 2007-2011 | New Orleans |
| 2000-2007 | California (asst) |
| 1995-1999 | Indiana (student manager) |
Joe Pasternack Facts
- Joe Pasternack III
- Born April 15, 1972
- Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana
- Alma Mater: Indiana University (BS, 1999)
- Born in Metairie, Louisiana, Pasternack grew up in a Reform Jewish family in New Orleans
- After four years at Metairie Park Country Day School in Louisiana, went to Indiana University and served as a student manager for four seasons under legendary head coach Bob Knight
- First full-time coaching job was as an assistant at Cal under Ben Braun
- Returned to his native New Orleans in 2007 to become the head coach at UNO
- During his four years there, the Sun Belt school dropped down D-I to D-III as a result of a drop in enrollment and budget after Hurricane Katrina
- Pasternack left the school in 2011 when his contract was up after three years in the Sun Belt and one final year as a Division I Independent (the school ultimately decided to stay DI and would join the Southland Conference two years later)
- Spent six years on Sean Miller‘s staff at Arizona, the first four as an assistant then two more as associate head coach
- Hired in April 2017 to become the new head coach at UC Santa Barbara out of the Big West
- Won 21+ games in each of his first three seasons with the Gauchos and in 2020-21 won the outright Big West title
- Led the Gauchos to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and 2023 by way of a Big West Tournament crowns
Joe Pasternack Coaching Tree
- Ben Tucker (Embry-Riddle)