It didn’t take long for Vince Inglima to make his mark as the interim head coach of the San Francisco State men’s basketball team — and to remove the interim tag from his title. Ten games to be exact.
The 2002 Carson High graduate was named the Gators interim head coach heading into the 2017-2018 season and just 10 games into the season he was named as the San Francisco State head coach on a permanent basis. He proceeded to lead the Gators to a 19-11 record, including 14-8 in conference play last season.
It was a homecoming of sorts on Friday when Inglima brought his Gators for an exhibition game against Nevada, a tough task for Division II San Francisco State since the Wolf Pack are ranked No. 7 by the Associated Press and No. 9 by the coaches in the preseason poll.
Nevada went on to beat the Gators 85-60. San Francisco State actually led 39-38 at halftime. “We’re excited to face one of the best teams in the nation when we go up to face Nevada. Going against that level of talent will be a great test for our new team,” said Inglima before the game. “Personally, it is always great to get back to Northern Nevada because I grew up in that area.”
Last season the Gators advanced to the postseason under Inglima after advancing to the conference tournament semifinals where it lost to No. 19 Cal Poly Pomona 69-66 in overtime.
Last sesaon under Inglima’s direction, the Gators had three players named to the All-CCAA Team and Evan Zeller was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team.
Inglima served as the Gators’ top assistant coach for four seasons, where he helped SF State to a historic season in 2016-17. The No. 22 Gators finished 25-6, the best mark in the program’s modern era and the most since the 1939-40 season, and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament Championship for the first time since 1993-94.
Prior to joining SF State, Inglima was at conference foe Cal State Monterey Bay for three seasons. As a player, Inglima played professionally in Australia for the Dandenong Rangers. He led his team to the grand final in his first of four seasons in Australia’s second division. In 2010, Inglima coached the Rangers U-18 team to the title in the National Junior Club Championships.
Inglima graduated magna cum laude from Sonoma State with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics. In his senior season, the Seawolves won the CCAA for the first time in school history. Along the way, Inglima earned CCAA Male Athlete of the Year, All-West Region, and All-American honors. He still holds the school record for career 3-point percentage (44.6) and is third in free throw percentage (82.5). Inglima was an Academic All-American, and was awarded Academic All-District by ESPN The Magazine. He was inducted into the Sonoma State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
Inglima attended Cabrillo College for two years before moving on to Sonoma State.