UC Santa Barbara Announces Renee Jimenez as Women’s Basketball Coach

After an eight-year stint leading the Cal State San Marcos women’s basketball program, Renee Jimenez will be the next women’s basketball coach at UC Santa Barbara.

“It’s with great excitement we welcome Renee as the new head coach of our storied women’s basketball program,” said UC Santa Barbara athletic director Kelly Barsky via a press release on Wednesday. “She is a student-first leader, has strong ties to our Gaucho community, and her programs consistently demonstrate basketball excellence.”

Jimenez has 15 years of head coaching experience under her belt, accumulating a 270-151 record in that time. Most recently, she spent the last eight seasons leading Cal State San Marcos, taking that program to new heights during her tenure. During the 2023-24 season, Jimenez led the Cougars to the NCAA Division II Final Four with an upset over No. 1 Gannon University.Cal State San Marcos posted an overall record of 27-7 and a conference record of 18-4, winning the CCAA Regular Season and Tournament titles. Since taking over for the Cougars, Jimenez has been named as the CCAA Coach of the Year three times, led her team to the NCAA Tournament three times, and made it to the CCAA Tournament Championship game three times. She has also coached 42 All-CCAA athletes over these eight seasons, including a D2CCA All-American and CCAA Player of the Year.

Jimenez also spent three seasons as an assistant coach at San Diego State, being part of the Aztecs’ rebuild. San Diego State went from 4-25 to 18-13 during her three seasons as an assistant with the program. Her very first position came as a video coordinator at Stanford University under legendary coach Tara VanDerveer.

Jimenez grew up in Ventura, making the drive up the 101 to attend UC Santa Barbara Women’s Basketball games and camps from a young age. She will now be back in The Thunderdome taking over the reins of the program.