Mike Thornton

Bryce Alderton

As players at Orange Coast College go through the system in a

couple of years, women’s basketball coach Mike Thornton is a

stalwart.

The 55-year-old San Clemente resident is currently in his 14th

season with the Pirates, leading them to a 17-3 mark following Friday

night’s win over Riverside.

Last year Thornton helped Coast record its 10th 20-win campaign

(25-9) in the past 11 seasons. The Pirates were one win away from a

berth in the state tournament but lost to Los Angeles Valley, 69-68,

in the regional final. OCC has made three trips to the state

tournament in the last eight years. Thornton has compiled a 289-138

(.677) record during his tenure.

He leaves no doubts that coaching is where he belongs and relishes

the responsibility of teaching his athletes.

“I love kids at (the junior college) level in terms of maturity,”

Thornton said. “They come in not having a clue what to do and before

you know it they are setting goals. When I took over (before the

1989-90 season) our basketball program wasn’t good. I wanted to make

a difference for the kids academically, athletically and socially.

We’ve been successful in the right way. Our kids are goal-oriented

and want to prove themselves.”

Thornton prefers recruiting athletes from Orange County and said

he knows within 10 minutes of seeing a player whether that individual

is good enough to play at Coast.

A player’s ability can be enhanced if he or she is willing to work

hard, Thornton said. He gave the example of Leigh Marshall, a

5-foot-5 sophomore guard who attended Costa Mesa High. Thornton

watched Marshall play as a prep, but didn’t heavily recruit her.

“(Marshall) chose to come here and has worked really hard and now

averages nine to 10 minutes a game,” Thornton said.

Marshall will continue at Coast as an assistant to Thornton next

season.

“It’s people like her that is the reason why I coach,” Thornton

said. “She’s the spirit of our team.”

All but two of his teams have achieved a composite grade point

average of at least a 3.0 and he said in his 14 years at Coast he has

only had to kick three players off the team and only three have quit

after the season began.

He teaches social science and English to special-education

students at Marina High in the mornings and travels to OCC for

practices and games in the afternoons.

The father of three has taught at Marina for 28 years, beginning

his tenure there teaching U.S. history and government.

Thornton compiled a 147-95 (.605) record coaching the Marina

girls’ varsity program. Prior to Marina, he taught and coached at

Santa Ana High from 1970-75.

Originally from Illinois, Thornton moved to Anaheim between his

sophomore and junior years in high school. He spent the rest of his

prep career at Magnolia High playing catcher in baseball and a guard

in basketball.

He got a scholarship to play baseball and basketball at Cal State

Stanislaus and was drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1969, though he

didn’t realize it until two weeks later. Thornton’s father called him

two weeks following the draft, giving his son the news.

“I didn’t have a good senior year (at Stanislaus) and wanted to go

into coaching,” Thornton said.

“The chances were one million to one that I would make it (in

baseball) and it would have wasted two years.”

Thornton contends he was better at baseball, but preferred

basketball.

His two sons, Brian and Keith, play volleyball at San Clemente

High and Kelsey, his 8-year-old daughter, competes in volleyball,

soccer, basketball and water polo.

Sports plays a large part in Thornton’s life. He is an avid fan of

the University of Illinois and Stanford as well as the Anaheim

Angels, and of course, Orange Coast.

“(Orange Coast) is like my second family,” Thornton said.