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Just two years removed from winning the
college’s first state championship, Benny
Artiaga has put together another team that
is talented enough to bring another title to
the program. Now in his fourth year as the
head coach (and ninth overall), Artiaga saw
his team come just one win away from
advancing to the state tournament to defend
their title. In his three seasons as the
head coach, Artiaga has put together a
50-15-14 (.769) record. The team finished in
second place in the South Coast Conference
for the second year in a row and concluded
with an 18-4-4 record. For the first time in
school history, the program produced their
first All-American, as Michael Paz was named
NSCAA/adidas
(National Soccer Coaches Association of
America) Community College Men’s Division
III 1st Team All-American. During
the state championship season, the team went
20-3-5 on the year and were ranked #1 in the
state and 32 in the nation.
Winning a state championship also brought a
lot of accolades, as Artiaga was voted the
South Coast Conference Coach of the Year,
Far West Coach of the Year, and to top it
off, 2006 NSCAA Junior College National
Coach of the Year. Artiaga was also hired as
full-time Instructor/Coach the summer after
the team won the state title. The trip to
the state championship game was the second
for the school, as Artiaga was an assistant
coach during the 2004 season.
Now entering his ninth year overall with
the Falcon coaching staff, Artiaga was the
lead assistant in the 2004 season, as the
team finished the year ranked third in the
nation and second in the state. He served as
Interim Head Coach prior to the start of the
2004 season assuming roles with recruiting,
scheduling, academics, budgeting and team
management.
Artiaga holds a national Class B license
from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF),
National Fitness Level 1 diploma, also from
USSF, and an advanced diploma from the
National Soccer Coaches Association of
America (NSCAA). He has also been invited to
serve on the USSF soccer training staff.
After playing for the Falcons on their 2001
team, Artiaga remained with the team in a
coaching capacity. Among his qualifications
are participating many years of CSL and
playing under two soccer programs (Cerritos
and Long Beach City College), while during
his time enlisted in the military, he
captained the United States Navy team to a
silver medal in the 1996 RIMPAC Hawaii
Tournament against Chile and participated
against various select regional teams across
the country, including a 1996 Armed Services
Cup.
Artiaga graduated from USC in 2003 with
a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and
an emphasis in Sports Journalism. He
completed his Master’s degree in
Kinesiology/Sports Management from Long
Beach State in 2005 and is currently working
on his doctoral degree in Sports Psychology
from the University of San Diego for
Integrative Studies.
Professionally, he has worked for the Los
Angeles Galaxy and in the USC Sports
Information Office under Mike Garrett and
Tim Tessalone, while also working as a
personal fitness trainer for the USC
athletic department for three years training
many athletes from various sports. Artiaga
also serves on the coaching staff with the
Los Alamitos High boy’s soccer team with
Falcon assistants Donovan Martinez (Los
Alamitos High boy’s head coach) and Raul
Avellaneda (JV head coach). During his time
there, the Los Alamitos boys have captured
consecutive conference championships by
going undefeated, advanced to the Division 1
final four and finished last year ranked
seventh in the nation. He also coaches a
U-13 boys BlackStars team with LBSC. |
