Samohi Basketball Coach to Retire After All

Less than a year after ' basketball coach said he was a likely a decade away from retirement, Marty Verdugo says he's wrapped up his final season.

In his six years as the head coach at Samohi, Verdugo put the girls basketball program on the map, culminating in a CIF championship in 2010—the first girls basketball title in the school’s history.

"It just kind of made sense," Verdugo said of leaving as he retires  simultaneously from teaching government and history. "It was a very satisfying year."

News of his decision was first reported Feb. 25 by the school's student-run newspaper, The Samohi.

He will now set his sights on fulfilling a longtime dream of opening a summer basketball program, he said. 

"I want to open a facility that focuses on more than just getting kids ready for college," he said. "I want to empower them from a young age... it won't be a stepping stone to college, there are plenty of those facilities out there."

Characterized by players as intense and as a fast-talker, the coach , but by May, had a change of heart.

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At that time, he explained to Patch, "I realized that I had everything I wanted right in front of me. I wanted to stay at Santa Monica High School and pursue the passion that gets me out of bed at 4:30 every morning, and that’s basketball."

He concluded his interview by saying retirement was more then 10 years away, and didn't see himself doing anything else.

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In the Samohi, players credited Verdugo with helping to grow not only as athletes, but as leaders, too.

Alumnus Lilly Feder told the paper that she will help Verdugo launch the new summer program. “He’s a great guy as well as a great coach. It’s easy for me to want to come back and help him continue what he was doing with me with others,” she said.

Before he joined the teaching staff at Santa Monica High School in 2003, Verdugo was hired temporarily as a video coordinator for the San Antonio Spurs. He said his good friend Mike Budenholzer helped him land the gig just as the lockout was ending during the 1998-99 season—the same year the team would go on to win the world championship.

Verdugo subsequently earned his bachelor's from California State University Dominguez Hills and started teaching.

A Play Vista resident, Verdugo is married to Phyllis Verdugo, the executive vice president of the law department at Univision Communications, Inc.

— Melinda Weaver contributed to this report. It was updated at 5 p.m. with additional information provided by Marty Verdugo.

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