Coaching Staff
Tony
Costello, Head Coach (A.A. Chabot College: B A. History, San Jose
State; M.A. Educational Admin., Alliant Univ.; M.A. Physical Ed., St.
Mary's)
Coach Costello is in his sixth season as head coach at Las Positas after spending 17 years at sister school Chabot - 14 of those years as head coach.
Costello's LPC teams have gone 78-69 in their first five years of existence, reaching the playoffs after the 2007-08 and 2010-11 seasons. Two of his players have transferred to Division I programs and 9 others to Division II, III or NAIA. See full list.
During Costello's tenure at Chabot, his teams qualified for the regional playoffs 12 times, won two conference championships (2003 and 2005), went to the State Final 8 in 2002 and the Sweet Sixteen in 1997.
His overall record at Chabot was 250-179. Fifteen of his Chabot players went on to play Division I and another 33 at Division II or NAIA. He was also named Coach of the Year twice.
His 1997 team also won the State
Scholar Team Award with an overall team Grade Point Average of 3.3.
Costello was president of the California Community College Men's Basketball
Coaches Association from 2003-05.
Costello's roots are here in the Tri Valley. A 1974 graduate of Amador Valley
High, he played for legendary basketball coach Skip Mohatt. After assisting
at Amador, he was named head coach at Dublin High School in 1981. He coached
there for six years, making the league playoffs 4 times and reaching the
NCS semi-finals in 1983. Dublin was then a member of the EBAL.
Costello be reached at (925) 424-1281 or tcostello@laspositascollege.edu.
Ward Farris, Assistant Coach (B A. Communication Studies, San Jose State)
A former coach of the Tri-Valley Titans of the International Basketball League, Farris enters his second season as an assistant at LPC. Farris was a standout player at San Jose State, where he played guard in the mid-1980s. He still ranks on the Spartans' top ten list in all-time field-goal percentage and steals.
Toby Merchant, Assistant Coach
Merchant enters his first season as an assistant at LPC.