Cal Sports Report

Cal Basketball: Joe Pasternack No Longer a Candidate for Bears' Vacancy

Former Cal assistant coach signed a 5-year extension with UC Santa Barbara, suggesting he isn't going anywhere
Jake Curtis|
Cal Basketball: Joe Pasternack No Longer a Candidate for Bears' Vacancy
Cal Basketball: Joe Pasternack No Longer a Candidate for Bears' Vacancy

For the past several weeks, UC Santa Barbara head coach Joe Pasternack was considered a prime contender to be the next Cal basketball coach. But that won't happen, as Pasternack signed a five-year contract extension with UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.

KEYT-TV of Santa Barbara reported this on Saturday:

Reached by phone, Pasternack said he pulled out of the Cal head coaching search today.

"I am so excited to continue to lead the UCSB basketball program and to continue to capture championships with the Gauchos," said Pasternack. "My family and I love our players, we love the Santa Barbara community and we are totally aligned with the UCSB administration. We are grateful to Gauchos Athletic Director Kelly Barsky and Chancellor Henry Yang."

Pasternack was considered a possible successor to Mark Fox because of his success at UCSB and the fact that he was an assistant coach at Cal under Ben Braun.

Pasternack was a Cal assistant from 2001 to 2007, and the Bears went to the NCAA tournament three times during his time in Berkeley.  Pasternack was then a head coach at New Orleans and later an assistant at Arizona before becoming the head coach at UC Santa Barbara in 2017.

The Gauchos have won 20 games or more in five of his six season at Santa Barbara and received NCAA tournament berths in two of the past three seasons.  The Gauchos finished 27-8 this past season and reached the NCAA tournament, losing in the first round.

With Pasternack and Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett both apparently out of contention for the Cal vacancy, it leaves a lot of speculation about who the Bears might have in mind.

The Bears reportedly have shown interest in Texas interim head coach Rodney Terry, and have interviewed Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, although there have been reports that Abdur-Rahim is not a serious candidate.

Other names being mentioned are Boise State head coach Leon Rice, Utah State head coach Ryan Odom and Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen, the former Stanford standout.

The search is complicated by the fact that Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton reportedly is being investigated by the universaity for his handling of the Teri McKeever situation.

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Cover photo of Joe Pasternack by Ron Chenoy, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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