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Now starting his ninth year overall and eighth as
the head coach, Gary Cain has led his teams
to two South Coast Conference South Division
Championships and was voted the SCC Coach of
the Year three seasons ago. Last season, the
team posted a 20-14 mark on the year and
advanced to the Southern California regional
Playoffs. After winning their first round
game, the team was eliminated in a close
game against Ventura, 80-81. back during the
2001-02 season, Cain led his team through
the playoffs and into the State
Championships, where they were defeated in
the Elite Eight. The team finished the year
27-8 and Cain was named the SCC Coach of the
Year, as well as the Southern California
Coach of the Year. In his first year with
the program as an assistant coach in
1998-99, Cain helped guide Cerritos to their
fourth State Championship in school history
and was named the head coach after Dean
Ackland retired.
Cain has the ability year in and year out to
recruit a solid group of freshmen, while he
also relies on his sophomores to provide
leadership. Cain brings a great deal of
coaching and life experience. He spent four
years before joining the Falcon staff trying
to stop them from scoring as the head coach
at South Coast Conference school Los Angeles
Harbor College. In addition to his coaching
duties with the Falcons, Cain also served as
one of the department’s Athletic Directors
and also finds the time to serve as a
Physical Education instructor, while
teaching health classes.
Cain prepped at Centennial High School in Compton
as was a two-sport athlete. He was an
All-League selection in basketball and also
played on the baseball team. In the
classroom, Cain was the salutatorian of his
class, the student body president and also
went to Sacramento to serve as his school’s
representative in a mock state government
demonstration. While on the baseball team,
he was a teammate of former professional
players Al Cowens, Lenny Randle and Wayne
Simpson.
Cain earned an academic scholarship to Stanford
University and was a walk-on basketball
player, where he spent two years. He earned
his Bachelor’s degree in psychology and his
Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology.
After completing his post-graduate work,
Cain was drafted and joined the Army
Reserves, where he spent eight months in
active duty.
He received his first coaching job at his high
school alma mater, where he was an assistant
on the junior varsity team before he became
the head JV coach the following season.
After four years as their coach, Cain
accepted a job as an assistant at Compton
College under Walt Hazzard. He returned to
Centennial High the following year as their
head coach for one season and then served as
an assistant to Paul Landreaux at El Camino
College for one year. After spending one
year as the JV coach at Banning High, he
moved on to Cal State Los Angeles as an
assistant for two years. Cain was then named
the head coach at Banning High, where he
stayed for four years before moving to Cal
State Dominguez Hills as an assistant for
four years. He then accepted the job of head
coach at LA Harbor before joining the
Falcons.
Cain and his wife Florine, who is
a teacher and girl’s track coach at
Dominguez High School, is better known as
“Mike”, live in Carson and have two sons,
Myke and Marcos. Myke has completed his MBA
and is now working in the business community
and residing in Fremont, CA, while Marcos
has completed his Master’s degree from the
University of Eastern New Mexico and is
currently working as a certified athletic
trainer and ROP instructor at Culver City
high school. In their spare time, they like
to attend concerts, movies, musicals and
plays, while Gary enjoys playing the piano
and singing. |