Jeff Klein - Head Coach, Men's Basketball

Jeff Klein just completed his 23rd season on the court and 24th overall (Covid year) as the head coach of the Chaffey College Men’s Basketball program. The 2024-25 will be Klein’s 40th season overall. In 2001, he was named the first professional expert to coach Men’s Basketball at a California Community College. This title enabled Klein to be a full-time coach. Over the last 23 years with Klein as the coach, the Panthers have averaged 23 wins per season (493 -192); with fifteen 20+ win seasons. Klein has claimed championships for Chaffey 10 times (spanning three conferences) and has been named conference coach of the year ten times and State coach of the year three times. His teams have gone to the playoffs 21 of those years, made one trip to the state finals, three Final Four appearances, and one Elite Eight appearance. 113 Panther alumni have received scholarships to four-year universities and many of his student-athletes have pursued careers as professional basketball players and coaches worldwide.

 

The 2023-24 season saw the Chaffey Hustlin’ Panthers claim their 2nd IEAC Conference Championship with a (15-1) Conference record and 25-4 overall. The “CHP” led the State in scoring at 101 ppg and 107 ppg in IEAC Conference. The Panthers were led by All-State selection and Conference MVP (Soph) Marcus Green and All State / 1st Team (Soph) Brody Davis. (Frosh) Uriyah Rojas 1st Team, (Frosh) Nate Simon and (Soph) Shaden Knight were both 2nd Team All Conf. (Frosh) Shadale Knight was Honorable Mention. The 2019-20 season was the Panthers inaugural year in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference. The Panthers rose to the occasion and finished 23-6 overall and undefeated (16-0) in the conference. Sophomores Darren Williams, Manu Oulai, and Aaron Johnson led the Panthers to a conference championship for a second consecutive year. The 2019-20 team was also extremely successful in the classroom with nine players named to the college's scholar-athlete team with a GPA 3.0+. The 2012 – 2017 era produced 3 State Final 4 teams and 1 State Finalist. The CHP in 2012-13 had a memorable run winning the Foothill Conference then beating #1 seed Saddleback on the road. The Panthers then traveled to Consumnes River College to take on overall #1 seed San Francisco City College (30-0) and beat them in the State Semifinals. This was the furthest any Chaffey College MBB team advanced in its long history. 

 

Coach Klein, at age 23, became the youngest head coach in Southern California when he took the job at South Pasadena High School. Before coming to Chaffey, Klein concluded a dramatic season at Upland High School where he coached the Highlanders to a CIF Division 1-AAA title in 2001. Under his direction, the Highlanders ranked in the Top 10 nationally and won 28 games in a row. During his nine seasons at Upland, Klein led the team to three league titles and made the CIF playoffs every year starting in 1995. Klein has earned top honors in coaching, being named “Coach of the Year” by the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association (SCIBCA), Fox Sports West 2 television, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and the Los Angeles Times. He was also honored as the “Teacher of the Year” in 1996 by Upland High School.

 

Coach Klein has been fortunate to coach many fine student-athletes. Many have gone on to attend 4-year universities, and a few have reached the NBA. Stacey Augmon (UNLV / 13 yrs NBA/ Coaching Milwaukee Bucks), Desmond Penigar (Utah State/Orlando Magic), Jesse Pruitt (UC Davis / Coaching Stanford University), Kirk Snyder (Nevada/Utah Jazz/Houston Rockets), and Jimmy Alapag (Sacramento Kings Assistant Coach Cal State San Bernardino/Captain/MVP Philippine Basketball Association, FIBA Players

Commission), Jeffrey Cammon (Alcorn State / HC Long Beach State, HC St Mary’s) are those who made it to the big time.

 

Coach Klein graduated from Lawrence High School on Long Island, New York, where he was an All-County athlete in football, basketball, and track. A graduate of SUNY at Cortland, Jeff earned his BS degree in Physical Education in 1985. In 1989, Jeff completed his MBA from the University of La Verne.

 

Over the years, Coach Klein has hosted a highly successful 50-50 basketball camp in which he has influenced many young athletes in the fundamentals of basketball. Klein was on the basketball coaching staff of the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel. His squad won the Gold Medal beating Türkiye, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, and Israel in the Championship game. In 2023, Klein traveled to Montenegro and presented as a Masterclass clinician and was part of a Pro tryout camp. Klein enjoys spending time with his two children Danny (32) and Amanda (30) and traveling all over the world.