Women’s and Men’s Basketball Returns to
GWC After Being Gone for Nearly Two Decades
The sound of bouncing basketballs and sneakers screeching on the hardwood court reverberated throughout the gym at Golden West College. For the coaches and players on an October afternoon of back-to-back practices, it was sweet music to their ears.
After nearly two decades, basketball is back at GWC — thanks to a push to resurrect the teams by President Tim McGrath, who took over the reins of the college in June 2018 and is an avid hoops fan. “He (McGrath) told me, ‘Do it yesterday,’” said Barry Migliorini, a longtime local with basketball coaching experience at the professional, collegiate and high school levels who was hired in March 2019 to build the GWC women’s basketball team from scratch. “He’s one of our biggest supporters,” Migliorini said. “It’s wonderful to be coaching basketball at a college where you know you’re really loved.”
The women’s basketball season began Nov. 2 and ran through Feb. 21, 2020. The women’s Rustlers squad played a total of 28 games. Nine were home games, and the last 14 were conference games that began Jan. 8 with a contest against perennial powerhouse Irvine Valley College.
Tony Jimmerson, the associate head coach at Santa Ana College in 2018-2019 and the assistant head men’s basketball coach there for seven seasons from 2011 to 2018, was hired a couple of months before Migliorini, in February 2019, to build the men’s team from the bottom up.
“It was always my dream to be a head coach,” said Jimmerson, who also played basketball professionally — most notably with the Long Beach summer pro league in 2006 and 2008, the Las Vegas summer Pro-Am in 2008, the Arizona Flames of the ABA league in 2009, and the El Salvador National Basketball team with an all-star selection in 2009. “It’s easy for me to just come over here because I know the area,” Jimmerson said. “It wasn’t too hard for me to recruit players because I had a lot of connections.”
The men’s basketball season started Nov. 1 with a tournament. Their season ran through Feb. 21, 2020. There were 15 conference games, with the first starting Dec. 18 against Riverside Community College. Both the men’s and women’s squads entered the season with the disadvantage of their players only having about three months to gel, as opposed to the players they faced, most of whom usually have two years of experience playing together, Migliorini and Jimmerson said.
Both coaches said they put competitive squads on the court this season, but both say by the next season (2020-21), things should be really hopping. But this year’s women’s squad had some talented players, he stressed. The last two players Migliorini was able to recruit this year were Kim Mancillas, a shooting guard who was an all-CIF player in the LA Section at Roosevelt High School, and Abigail Guerrero, an all-state honorable mention player from Jurupa Valley High School. Guerrero plays point guard.
Migliorini ended up with 12 first-team, all-league players out of Orange County on his team, as well as two who transferred from other junior colleges.
Jimmerson also is pleased with some of the talent he was able to recruit. He said John Stillgess, a 28-year-old guard, is one of his squad’s more mature athletes. “He’s our captain,” Jimmerson said. “He’s our leader. He has a high basketball IQ.” Jimmerson also is excited about point guard Francis Dogani and forward Malik Colquhoun.
LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE
During the practice, Migliorini was about to meet with a recruit, Hannah Bailey, from St. Anthony’s High School in Long Beach, and show her and her parents around GWC. “She likely will play shooting guard,” he said of Bailey. “Like all the players I recruit, she’s got a chance of playing for a four-year college. That’s the type of player I like to recruit here.”
The GWC women’s basketball squad won state titles in 1979, 1990, and 1991, contributing to a history of excellence that marks GWC’s overall athletic program. GWC’s athletic program boasts 149 conference championships, 88 state championships, 614 All-Americans, and eight Olympians.
“And we estimate about 10,000 kids that have come here for athletics have transferred to the four-year level,” said Migliorini, who came to GWC from Cal State LA, where he was an assistant coach.
“We definitely take our athletic program seriously,” added Migliorini, who has coached three different high school girls’ basketball teams in Orange County over the previous 15 years: Fountain Valley, Rancho Alamitos, and Buena Park.
“I like to put up a lot of points on the board,” he said of his coaching style. “Some coaches like to work the shot clock, but I like to play defense and run other teams off the court. I think that’s a more exciting style of basketball.”
“I think we’ve got the kids to be competitive,” he said. “It will be a challenge. Having said that, we have all the pieces in place for making a run at the playoffs next season.” Catherine McMorris, a freshman on the women’s basketball team who unfortunately has to sit out the season because she blew out her ACL during a scrimmage, is glad hoops are back.
“I wasn’t going to play in college, but I’m happy basketball is back,” said McMorris, who is majoring in mathematics. “It’s all new people, it’s all fresh, you know? There’s no drama. When you come in, you make a lot of friendships.”
McMorris’ twin sister, Reyna, also is a member of the female Rustlers squad. “We have a lot to work still,” McMorris said of the team, “but our strength is our chemistry. We still need to work on fundamentals, like calling out names when we pass the ball and working
on defense.”
As a coach, Jimmerson, who started his collegiate career at Cypress College in 1999 before transferring to Long Beach City College in 2002, is as much a stickler with what happens off the court as he is on the court.
“I’m more of an off-the-court coach,” Jimmerson said. “I’m very serious about the players’ education. You didn’t go to study hall three days this week? Then you’re running. Basketball is going to stop one day. Once it stops, what are you going to have to fall back on?” Stillgess is thrilled hoops are back at GWC.
“I didn’t know it was coming back,” said Stillgess, who started at GWC in January 2019. “I was in the weight room, in my introduction to weightlifting class, when the coach walked in and said, ‘We’re having a basketball program here, you should join.’”
And so Stillgess did.
“I hadn’t played in a while, so I was excited to get back on the court in a college environment,” said Stillgess, who went to Irvine High School and previously attended Santa Ana College.
“I’m really excited,” Stillgess added. “I have good positive thoughts about our team. We have key pieces. We just have to work the wrinkles out.” Malik Colquhoun, a freshman, played forward on the men’s team. “We have to be on the same page,” said Colquhoun, who attended high school in Florida. “We’re still working on that. It’s coming together. We’re all learning. I’m not used to this level of play yet.”
Stillgess said he wants to be a middle school or high school counselor. Colquhoun wants to be an athletic trainer at a high school or college. “We have a lot of grit,” Colquhoun said of this year’s men’s team. Added Stillgess: “We’re very competitive. We want to make some noise and make a name for ourselves and for Golden West College.”
For more information, visit gwcathletics.com
