Athletics: Long Beach City College announces staff, coaching changes

Long Beach City College Director of Athletics Joe Cascio has announced the following changes to the coaching and support staff that are effective beginning the 2013-14 season.

Mary Hegarty has been named athletic coordinator, Julio Jimenez is the men’s cross country team’s new head coach, Ken Thomas will direct the women’s tennis program as head coach, and Bayano Kamani will serve as the track and field team’s men’s head coach.

“I’m very excited about this influx of new talent,” said Cascio. “I look forward to helping the new staff integrate into the Long Beach City College family.”

Long-time southland women’s basketball coach Hegarty joins the staff at LBCC this fall and will serve in the newly created athletic coordinator position. Hegarty’s duties as athletic coordinator include assisting Cascio with various administrative tasks, managing the Student-Athlete Success Program, and assisting with eligibility and compliance.

Hegarty comes to LBCC after recently holding coaching and teaching positions at Fullerton College and Santa Barbara City College. Prior to those jobs, Hegarty was the women’s basketball head coach at Long Beach State University for six years. Hegarty also had a successful run of nine straight winning seasons as head coach at Chapman University. She has also served as an assistant coach at her alma mater UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and Humboldt State University.

Jimenez, a former assistant coach at Chico State University, has been named LBCC’s new men’s cross country head coach. Before joining the coaching ranks in 2011, Jimenez competed for Chico State in both cross country and track and field from 2006-10. Jimenez delivered four solid cross country seasons, while his track career included taking part in the 1,500-meter, 3,000-meter, 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs.

Jimenez went to Chico State following a standout prep career at nearby El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera.

Thomas, a two-time national champion, entrepreneur, and Internet tennis commentator, has been named head coach of the LBCC women’s tennis team. Thomas comes to Long Beach after serving one season as head coach at Santa Barbara City College. While at SBCC, Thomas coached Bruna Magalhaes to the college’s first ever singles state championship title. Thomas has also coached at the University of Wisconsin and Cal State Los Angeles.

In 2003, he created RadioTennis.com and has been broadcasting pro tennis tournaments to a world-wide audience on live streaming audio on the Internet. Thomas is the CEO of Tennis Telecom Inc., which also features TennisWorldRankings.com and LiveTennisChat.com.

As a player, Thomas was a two-time Michigan high school singles champion and a three-time All-Big 10 Conference selection during his college days. Thomas currently ranks No. 2 at Wisconsin in all-time singles wins (80). He was ranked No. 1 by the United States Tennis Association in Men’s National 35 Doubles in 1994 and captured USTA Grass Court Doubles titles in 1994 and 1995.

Kamani, a former two-time Olympian, has been named men’s head coach of the LBCC track and field team. 

As a professional, Kamani represented Panama five times on the world stage for athletics; making three World Championship teams (2003 Paris, 2005 Helsinki, 2007 Osaka) and two Olympic teams (2004 Greece, and 2008 Beijing). 

Prior to his professional career, Kamani was a four-time NCAA champion and 12-time NCAA All-American while representing Baylor University. Bayano’s four NCAA championships came both as an individual, twice winning the 400m hurdles, and twice as a member of the Baylor Bears famed 4x400-meter relay teams. 

As a Texas High School star representing Westbury High School in Houston, Bayano was named the Gatorade Athlete of the Year as a senior. At the time he was also the state record holder in the 300-meter hurdles and once held the national high school record in the 400-meter  hurdles at 50.86. In addition to being a High School All-American, Kamani also received the Houston Scholar Athlete Award for his academic accomplishments. 

“I’m very impressed by the caliber of all of these individuals,” said Connie Sears, Dean of Student Affairs, Kinesiology, Athletics, and Health Education. “I’m excited to see what they can bring to our student-athletes and the college.”

These four individuals, along with new football head coach Brett Peabody as well as Cascio, begin their first fall season at LBCC.