As he begins his 10^th season with the Cerritos College men’s basketball program, and eighth as the head coach Gary Cain finally has a team that mixes both youth and experience. Last year, the Falcons had only one sophomore on the team and missed out on the post-season for the first time in 24 years after going 12-17. However, Cain and his staff have the luxury of eight sophomores, which includes five that saw time in the starting lineup. During his time as the head coach for the Falcons, Cain has led his team to two South Coast Conference South Division championships, while they have advanced to the state tournament once. Coach Cain has been named the SCC Coach of the Year twice, while he was selected the Southern California Coach of the Year during the 2001-02 season when they reached the Elite Eight. In his first year with the program as an assistant coach in 1998-99, Cain was an assistant coach under Dean Ackland, and they took the team to their fourth State Championship in school history. Cain was named the head coach the following season after Ackland announced his retirement.

            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 to the Falcon program. He spent four years before joining the Falcon staff trying to stop them from scoring as the head coach at South Coast Conference opponent 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 serves as a Physical Education instructor, while teaching health classes.

            Cain prepped at Centennial High School in Compton and 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.