Jordan Hamamoto named men's basketball coach

The Saddleback athletics department announced on Tuesday that Jordan Hamamoto will take over as the men's basketball coach, effective immediately.  Hamamoto had served as the women's coach at the school for the past two seasons.

Hamamoto had tremendous success in his second year as the head coach of the women's team, taking the program to the Southern California regional finals for the first time in 23 years.

Hamamoto now takes over a men's program that has made the playoffs the past six seasons and has won three state championships in program history. 

"I'm really grateful for the opportunity to come in and coach a program with so much great history," Hamamoto said.  "I'm thrilled that the athletic department had the confidence in me to take over a program that has always had high expectations."

Hamamoto was 29-30 in his two seasons as the coach of the women's program.  The Bobcats were 22-9 in their second season under Hamamoto in 2025-26, finishing in a tie for second place in the Orange Empire Conference.  Saddleback won two playoff games for the first time since 1996, and the 22 wins was the most since 2007-08 when the program won 24 games.

"I will always be grateful for the opportunity to coach the women's team the past two seasons at Saddleback," Hamamoto said.  "I learned a lot about being a head coach and developed some tools to better myself in the future."

Hamamoto becomes the seventh head coach in Saddleback men's basketball history.  He takes over the reins from Jeff Oliver (80-70), who guided the program to five straight playoff appearances. 

Hamamoto came to Saddleback from Cypress College where he coached with the men's program for nine seasons.  During his tenure at Cypress, Hamamoto was an assistant coach for the Charger program where his primary focus was the basketball strength and conditioning program.

Hamamoto was a league MVP and All-CIF selection at Western High School. He played NCAA Division II basketball at Lake Superior State and NAIA basketball at Northwestern College. Hamamoto also played one season at Irvine Valley College.

Following his playing career, Hamamoto turned to the coaching side of the game worked with Ironmen Basketball Clinics. 

Hamamoto graduated from the University of La Verne with a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology (2016) and earned his master's degree in physical education from Azusa Pacific University (2018). 

Saddleback is expected to make a job announcement on Wednesday for the head women's coaching position.  The athletics department is hopeful to name a coach before the end of April.