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.
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