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.

          The top assistant on the staff, Tito Ortiz is now in his eighth season with the Falcons and has been coaching for 16 years. Ortiz is responsible for a great deal of the team’s recruiting and plays a large part in the day-to-day workings of the program. As a graduate of Mayfair High School, Ortiz was a two-year participant in both basketball and football. He earned All-League honors in basketball before transferring to Cerritos College and then Cal State Dominguez Hills, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and recently completed his Master’s in Educational PE from Azusa Pacific University.

          Ortiz began his coaching career at Paramount High the year after he graduated from high school, and spent three years with the Pirates. He then moved on to Cal State Dominguez Hills, where he coached with both head coach Gary Cain and former Falcon assistant Tony Carter-Loza. After four years with Cal State Dominguez Hills, Ortiz became an assistant coach at Cal State Los Angeles until his arrival on the Norwalk campus.

          Woody Jones joins the Cerritos College staff as an assistant coach this season after spending the past two seasons as the top assistant coach with St. Bernard’s High School, where he helped the Vikings reach the Final Four two years in a row. Before St. Bernard’s, Jones spent four seasons at Brentwood High School as their top assistant.

          A graduate of Palos Verdes High School, Jones was a three-year varsity starter and earned All-League, All-CIF and All America Honorable Mention honors as a junior and senior. He was also selected 1^st Team All-Daily Breeze as a senior. Jones then moved on to Oral Roberts University for two years before transferring to Hawaii-Pacific University for his last two years, where he earned 1^st Team All-Conference, as well as to the All-Defensive Team.

          Joel Orozco joins the Falcon basketball program as the manager for his first season. As a graduate of Keystone Academy, a private high school in Downey, in 2003, Orozco was a member of their volleyball team. After high school, his love for basketball drew him to start up a small basketball team in his church. It was quite a challenge to keep the team functioning, due to his part-time job working for the YMCA as a lifeguard/instructor and also finding time to serve as a player and coach. They practiced in the church gym and played in a couple of tournaments, where his team faired well.

          Orozco enrolled at Cerritos College in 2004, where one of his beginning basketball classes was taught by Falcon women’s basketball coach Karen Welliver. This past summer, while attending the advanced basketball class with men’s assistant coach Tito Ortiz, who suggested he serve as the team manager.