Toggle left nav

Steve Coccimiglio

Steve Coccimiglio, DVC men’s basketball coach, became just the 12 junior college men’s basketball coach in California history to rack up 500 wins. It happened on January 29 as the Vikings team defeated Santa Rosa, 56-50.

“This means more to this year’s team than it means to me,” Coccimiglio said. “I’m coaching this year’s team, and this team doesn’t have anything to do with 500 wins and they’re playing hard. I really thought this was the biggest game of the year for us to get over the hump.”

This year’s team defeated Chabot College 64-50 in the region final to make it to the Final 8 of the state championships. However, the season ended there as the Vikings lost to Foothill College 78-72. The team ended the year, and Coach Coccimiglio’s 21^st season, with 26 wins and 5 losses.

Coccimiglio earned his B.A. degree in political science from the University of Hawaii in Hilo, and played basketball there in from 1975 to 1977. He went on to earn his master’s degree at Saint Mary’s College. He taught at De La Salle High School from 1981 to 1990, and served as the assistant basketball coach at St. Mary’s College from 1986 to 1989.

Coccimiglio has been teaching at DVC for 21 years, since 1990, and has been the men’s basketball coach the entire time. Not only is he the winningest coach in DVC history, he also has the highest percentage of wins among coaches who have won 500 or more games in the California Community Colleges.

DVC Interim President Peter Garcia presented a plaque recognizing this achievement to Coccimiglio at the February 11 home game.

He was also presented with a resolution at the March 23 meeting of the CCCCD Governing Board.

“I have been very fortunate to work at Diablo Valley College,” Coccimiglio said. “The faculty and staff are extremely dedicated to our students’ success. Because of the school’s tremendous reputation and beautiful campus, it has not been difficult to recruit students-athletes to DVC. I am proud of the young men who have come through our program and have taken advantage of the educational opportunities available to them at DVC.”