Rich Mendoza joined Dominican men's basketball for the 2011-12 season as the program's top assistant coach. His coaching has helped the development of many young players including
Josh Childress, a McDonald’s High School All-American who went on to play at Stanford and in the NBA. Childress was at Mayfair High in Lakewood when Mendoza was head freshmen and assistant varsity basketball coach from 1998–2000. Mendoza’s father, Joe, was a former Los Angeles Times Coach of the Year at Santa Fe Springs High School. Rich was an All-CIF guard for Brethern Christian High of Huntington Beach when it advanced to the CIF Division V championship game in 1993 and played for a conference championship team at Cerritos College in Norwalk. Mendoza, who earned his bachelor’s degree from Long Beach State in Human Development in 2002, has been an assistant coach under six head coaches who have been named Coach of the Year at least once in their respective conference. He previously has coached at San Francisco State (2008), University of Alaska Fairbanks (2005–07) and Humboldt State (2002–04).
At San Francisco State, Mendoza coached for former Penguins head coach
Bill Treseler, a member of the Dominican Athletics Hall of Fame's inaugural class. At Alaska-Fairbanks, Mendoza was an assistant on the Nanooks’ 2004–05 Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship team that played in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Div. II tournament. In Mendoza’s last season as an assistant at Humboldt in Arcata, the Lumberjacks won the GNAC title, achieved a No. 1 ranking nationally and advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Div. II tournament. Prior to Humboldt, Mendoza was video coordinator during the 2001–02 season at UC Irvine when the Anteaters won the Big West Conference championship and played in the National Invitational Tournament. Mendoza arrived at Dominican from College of the Redwoods where he was head coach for the past three seasons. Mendoza’s 2009-10 team won a Golden Valley Conference championship. He also coordinated the school’s spring AAU basketball league. Dominican is the fourth NCAA Div. II school Mendoza has coached at. The previous three advanced to post-season play. Mendoza, who is single, enjoys family, music, and outdoor sports/activities.
