On Feb. 6, Gators men’s basketball head coach Vince Inglima achieved 100 career wins as a head coach after an 88-75 victory over the Cal State San Marcos Cougars. Inglima has been part of the program since 2013 and is currently in his eighth season as the head coach.
Inglima understands the toughness of collegiate basketball, but he believes this personal achievement was achieved with the help of others.
“Winning college basketball games is tough,” Inglima said. “Everybody is out there scrapping, clawing and fighting. So it is good to take a moment every once in a while, appreciate the getting there. I’ve had great players. I’ve had great assistant coaches that helped me get there because it’s not a one-person job.”
Basketball has always been integral to Inglima’s life. He realized his love for the sport in middle school when he didn’t win the MVP award for his youth team. Inglima knew he was the best player on the team, but once he realized that he had to put in the extra work, these were drivers for him.
“When you’re young, you don’t connect to all those dots all the time,” Inglima said. “If you do invest your time, energy and effort into something, you get better at it. I just kind of fell in love with that process.”
Inglima said he tries to bestow this lesson on his players.
The coach recruited senior player Alex Gilat in Fall 2021. Gilat was playing at an overseas academy in the Czech Republic when he got a call from Inglima regarding a roster spot. Gilat was grateful for the call and the life-changing opportunity. Early in his college career, Gilat saw Inglima’s evident love for the game since he arrived.
“To be able to show up and do the job that he does,” Gilat said. “The hours are inconsistent and you’re putting in a lot of effort and work. Doing that every day for that amount of time. You don’t do that unless you don’t love it.”
In his college career, Inglima played at Sonoma State University, where he received California Collegiate Athletic Association Male Athlete of the Year, All-West Region and All-American honors during his senior season.
“When you transition into college, it becomes more, quote-unquote, professional where you’re honing in on a lot of the detail of the game,” Inglima said.
Inglima then traveled overseas to play professionally in Australia for four seasons after graduating from Sonoma State. While in Australia, Inglima got his first hands-on coaching experience and led a U-18 team to a title game.
“Transitioning into playing professionally, it becomes very business-like,” Inglima said. “You’re in charge of all your aspects of your development… you take full ownership of what you are when you hit the floor, and if you don’t do it, you get fired.”
When Inglima returned from Australia, he was hired as an assistant coach at Cal State Monterey Bay. After a three-year stint there, Inglima joined then-Gators head coach Paul Trevor as an assistant coach at SFSU. After assisting for three years, he officially became the head coach at the start of the 2017-2018 season.
Since becoming head coach, Inglima has led the Gators to the CCAA tournament three times and he hopes to lead the team to their fourth appearance in his coaching tenure.
Inglima’s coaching style is built on inspiration from his previous coaches. One thing Inglima realized regarding coaching was the importance of being yourself.
“You have to be genuine and authentic to get your point across,” Inglima said. “It’s finding that balance of being you but still being able to pull these influences in to help.”
For Inglima, playing is about developing skills and transferring those skills to the court, while coaching is a different aspect of the game. Inglima believes it is about making connections and leaving an impact on the players. The results may not show up on the court, but the relationships built from them are more rewarding for Inglima.
“There are not a lot of places where you can impact young people,” said Inglima. “Those relationships that you build, and getting to see these guys when they have kids, and they’re coaching their sons and at seven and their little basketball leagues. Being able to feel like you’re part of that process for people as they mature and get older. That’s what makes it a lot of fun.”
Junior player Caleb Oden joined the program in Fall 2022. One of Oden’s first memories with Inglima and the team is when they made the playoffs in his first season as a Gator.
“It showed me how hard of a process it was to be a college player,” Oden said. “It made me think about the steps we took to get there and all the work that we put in, and it showed me how important this was the coach, and just really built our bond right there.”
Senior player John Bakke has been under Inglima’s guidance since Fall 2020. Bakke touched upon how the loss of motivation is not something he is accustomed to with Inglima at the helm. Inglima’s motivation day in and day out has led to team success on and off the court.
“He definitely holds it to the highest standard you can be,” Bakke said. “I think that’s been a big reason why we’ve been successful since I’ve been here. That is why we had a team-high 3.8 GPA this year. It’s crazy.”
Inglima hopes to continue coaching at SFSU for the foreseeable future. His love for the school and his ability to impact players are good enough to keep him around for years to come.
“It’s been a privilege to coach here,” Inglima said. “I love it here, and for us to have a fair amount of success has been good on a personal level.”
