Mike Magpayo has set a new standard for UC Riverside men's basketball, entering his fifth year as full-time head coach in 2024-25 after having the interim tag removed on May 21, 2021.
Magpayo is the fastest UC Riverside head coach to collect 25 Big West victories, doing so in just three seasons. As of the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, Magpayo's Highlanders have earned back-to-back Big West Freshman of the Year honors with Lachlan Olbrich (2022-23) and Barrington Hargress (2023-24).
Magpayo was named the first Big West Coach of the Year in program history in 2022-23 after leading UCR to a program-record 22 wins - including 10 in Big West play - while picking up another program-record five Big West Player of the Week awards. The 2022-23 season also saw senior guard and First Team All-Big West honoree Zyon Pullin join the 1,000-point club, as UC Riverside secured its first season sweep of Long Beach State since 2008-09 and the first win at UC Santa Barbara in program history.
The 2022-23 Highlanders also reached 12 wins in January for just the third time in the program's 22-year Division I history and second with Magpayo on staff (2019-20). For his efforts in 2022-23, Magpayo was also named a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award, presented by CollegeInsider to the top mid-major head coach in Division I men’s college basketball.
A 2021-22 recipient of the Rising Coaches Trailblazer Award, an award presented to individuals who have blazed the way for diversity, equity and inclusion through the coaching and sports industry, Magpayo led the '21-22 squad to a six seed in the Big West Tournament and a 16-12 season with wins over previously-unbeaten Hawaii and Cal State Fullerton on ESPNU, in addition to a memorable buzzer-beating win at Arizona State during the season's opening weekend that made the rounds through the college basketball world.
Magpayo's program garnered four All-Big West spots for the second consecutive year, including Dominick Pickett picking up All-Big West Honorable Mention honors and a second straight Best Hustle Player award.
Before the 2020-21 year, Magpayo had served as an assistant coach with the program since his arrival prior to the 2017-18 season.
Following his first year at the helm, Magpayo led the program to new heights in the 2020-21 season with its highest Big West Tournament seed in program history (three) and the first Big West Tournament win in 10 years. The 2020-21 Highlanders also posted the best Big West record since the 2008-09 season, doing so in four fewer games.
UCR's 57-42 win over Washington marked a number of firsts for Magpayo, including his first over a signature Power-5 opponent. It was his first win as a head coach, his first game coached on the sideline, and further, the first win for a team coached by a Division I head coach of Asian American descent.
For his efforts, Magpayo was named the 2021 Joe B. Hall Award recipient, given annually to the top first-year head coach in Division I college basketball.
He was promoted to Associate Head Coach after a 2019-20 season when he helped lead the program to a record-tying 17 wins. As defensive coordinator, Magpayo was able to push the 2019-20 Highlanders to the top of multiple national rankings defensively, including ranking in the top 10 in scoring defense, field goal percentage and defensive rebounding on their way to invitations to both the CBI and CIT.
Prior to arriving in Riverside, he spent a year as the men's basketball director of operations at the University of San Francisco on the staff of his coaching mentor, Kyle Smith. The Dons finished the season with 22 wins, a fourth-place finish in the West Coast Conference and an appearance in the CBI Championship.
Prior to his time at San Francisco, Magpayo spent three seasons at Campbell University in the Big South Conference, where he served as the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. In 2016-17, he helped put together one of the best seasons in school history, as the Camels advanced to the conference championship game as well as the CIT quarterfinals in the program's first postseason appearance since 1992. While at Campbell, Magpayo recruited and developed current Houston Rockets guard Chris Clemons.
A Hacienda Heights, Calif. native, Magpayo was the lead recruiter at Columbia for Ivy Player of the year Maodo Lo from Germany as well as 6’11” all league player Luke Petrasek. He was also an integral part in helping bring Columbia to new heights, serving as director of operations, assistant coach, and recruiting coordinator and scheduler during the most successful four-year run in Columbia history 2010-14.
Magpayo has also found tremendous success off the court, both as the CEO of a multi-million dollar real estate firm in Southern California for seven years, and as the founder and president of the Asian Coaches Association. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in business economics in 2001. He was also a Southern California High School basketball coach from 2001-2010 before starting his college coaching career.
Magpayo resides in Riverside with his wife Caroline, who is a UC Riverside alumna, class of 2011.
