Yuba College coach Doug Cornelius notches 500th win
Dec. 18—Longtime Yuba College men's basketball coach Doug Cornelius earned his 500th win as the college's coach on Friday night in a tournament win against College of the Redwoods.
During his 23 years leading the men's team, Cornelius has not only collected 500 wins, but also multiple conference championships as he has established Yuba College as one of the region's most respected and successful junior college programs.
The win on Friday night propelled the team in the Kris Kringle Tournament to the championship game on Saturday against Pasadena City College. Yuba College beat Pasadena City College to finish their non-conference schedule at 10-2 before opening up Bay Valley Conference play at Solano College tonight.
While a back-to-back Kris Kringle Tournament victory was certainly worth celebrating over the weekend, nothing was as sweet as that 500th win for Cornelius and what that meant for the coach, program, community and his past players.
"Don't even know what to say. So many incredible memories during this journey. Seeing my family there, the incredible amount of messages and support. The incredible coaches I've worked with, players who worked extremely hard for me over the years, parents who trusted me to help guide and coach their sons," Cornelius said on social media after his 500th win. "Wow, I am overjoyed and full of emotion. Never thought when I took this job 23 years ago (a job everyone told me not to take) would I have thought that we could have turned this program into a state contender year in and year out."
Cornelius said along with his 500 wins, his coaching efforts also brought Yuba College 15 Bay Valley Conference championships, six Elite 8 appearances, a 2012 state runner up run and "thousands of memories and lifelong friendships made."
"Not too shabby for a small town kid with big dreams and a love for sports," Cornelius said. "Thanks to all my family, friends, former players, parents, and all who have helped and reached out along this crazy hoop journey. Nothing but love for all. I am one blessed guy!"
Festus Ezeli, who won a championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, expressed love for his former coach during Golden State's post-game show on Sunday night on NBC Sports Bay Area.
"I want to give a sweet and really big shout out to my guy, Coach Cornelius. ... Coach Cornelius is the coach at Yuba College and that's where I first moved to when I came to (the) United States," Ezeli said. "Right after I got cut from my high school team, I gave up basketball. That was not my future anymore, I thought I was going to go get an academic scholarship. I was walking around the Yuba College campus and here goes this guy say, 'I need you to play on my team, I need you to play.' At this time I'm 16 years old, I don't know what's going on.
"He put me on the team, hoping that I would play for him when I was 18 years old. During that time I was the video guy for the team, I was recording practices, I was practicing with the team. ... He was the guy who came and put me on the team ... after a couple of years of playing with the team and practicing with the team, I got scholarships to places all over the country. Shout out to Coach Cornelius, he got 500 wins this week. That's incredible on any level."
Chris Mullin, who also played for the Warriors, highlighted what an accomplishment 500 wins is for a junior college program, saying, "500 wins at the JUCO level is worth a thousand."
