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years before that, too,” he said.<br />
He reminisced about driving home after a<br />
day of teaching to pick up his family and<br />
drive them back to Huntington Beach for<br />
games. “Not sure I could do that in today's<br />
traffic.”<br />
And Marc remembers fondly sitting at<br />
the end of the bench and watching his dad<br />
coach. Today, the tables are somewhat<br />
turned, as Marc affectionately describes his<br />
father as “that tall gentleman sitting in the<br />
stands glowering at me.”<br />
In actuality, Steve is quite proud that his<br />
son decided to get into coaching. “He could<br />
have done anything he wanted. He's smart,<br />
has a great memory, a great voice. I'm really<br />
happy that he found something he really<br />
loves to do in coaching.,” he said.<br />
But San Clemente almost never had its<br />
Pop. Following the 1991-92 season, Steve<br />
accepted a position in Aurora, Colo., which<br />
would have meant Marc would never have<br />
graduated from SCHS or returned to coach<br />
his alma mater. As fate would have it, the<br />
soft real estate market at the time prevented<br />
the family from selling its home and<br />
relocating. So they never left, and the rest is<br />
Popovich history.<br />
Steve hung up his whistle after the 2014-<br />
15 season, completing his 40-year coaching<br />
run with posts at both Saddleback and<br />
Orange Coast College. Marc said one of the<br />
highlights of his coaching career thus far is<br />
coaching with his dad for a year at<br />
Saddleback.<br />
HEAD COACH'S MESSAGE<br />
Welcome to the 2015-16<br />
Triton Basketball Season<br />
By Marc Popovich, Head Coach<br />
On behalf of the entire San Clemente Triton Boys' Basketball Program, I'd<br />
like to welcome you to our 2015-16 season. The coaching staff, players,<br />
boosters club and administration have worked extremely hard to make the<br />
Triton Basketball Progam one of excellence and we hope to prove that to<br />
you this season.<br />
The program is dedicated to the achievement of our young men on and<br />
off the court. As a staff, we emphasize the following traits for our student<br />
athletes to have: teamwork, discipline, commitment, respect, perseverance<br />
and collective responsibility. We use these traits to help each player and team<br />
reach their full potential.<br />
Each student athlete is committed and dedicated to giving their full effort<br />
in the classroom and community as well as on the basketball court. The<br />
coaching staff is grateful for the opportunity to use basketball as a teaching<br />
tool for the game of life.<br />
It is with great honor that I welcome you back to another exciting season<br />
of basketball. On behalf of the entire Triton Basketball family, enjoy our<br />
games this season and thank you for your support.<br />
Marc Popovich<br />
HEAD COACH<br />
Now the longest tenured and winningest head coach in San Clemente High School Boys’ Basketball<br />
history, Marc Popovich is in his ninth season at the helm of the Tritons. His teams have made the<br />
CIF Playoffs in each of the last seven years. He is the ninth boys’ basketball head coach in the<br />
school’s 51-year history.<br />
San Clemente has won league championships in two out of the last three seasons under Popovich,<br />
with the 2012-13 title being only the second in school history and breaking a 38-year dry spell.<br />
Prior to being named the Tritons’ leader, Popovich spent five seasons as the JV Head Coach and<br />
varsity assistant at Tesoro High School, where he helped lead the program to two league titles and<br />
four consecutive playoff berths.<br />
He is an alumnus of San Clemente High School, Kansas State University and Cal State Fullerton,<br />
where he received his bachelor of arts degree in history and his teaching credential in social science.<br />
Popovich began his coaching career in 2001 as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team<br />
at Saddleback College, where for one year he got to coach with his father, Steve Popovich, the legendary former Marina High School<br />
head coach.<br />
Coach Popovich embraces the philosophy of playing “hard, smart, and together,” and enjoys using the game of basketball to teach life<br />
lessons to his players.<br />
He currently teaches World History and AP European History at SCHS, and is the voice of Triton Football, having taken over public<br />
address responsibilities for varsity home games in 2014. Besides educating the youth of America, he enjoys attending live sporting events,<br />
going to the movies and hanging out with friends.<br />
Popovich and his wife, Kristin, live in San Clemente with their two children - Sydney, age 4, and Mila, 2.<br />
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