Veteran Coach Michael Fenison enters his second season guiding the Mounties (2022-2023).  He became Mt. SAC’s 13^th men’s basketball head coach when he took over the program in March of 2020. 

In his first season (2021-2022), Michael Fenison led Mt. SAC to a 19-8 overall record, a South Coast Conference record of 6-2 and a 2nd place finish in the SCC North Division. He led the Mounties (#15 seed) to the second-round of the CCCAA Men’s Basketball Playoffs.

No stranger to Mt. SAC Athletics, Fenison is an Alumni of Mt. SAC, playing for legendary basketball coach, Gene Victor.  He was also a part of the men’s basketball staff, over thirty years ago, as an assistant coach under another legendary coach, Ralph Osterkamp.  During his earlier coaching tenure, he founded and directed the Mt. SAC Athletics Hall of Fame.

Prior to returning home in 2020, he served six seasons as an assistant coach with the College of the Canyons (COC) Men’s Basketball Program.

Prior to COC, he spent 12 seasons at El Camino College, serving as men’s head coach, assistant coach and athletics director.  As head coach, Fenison demonstrated his coaching acumen by improving the Warriors from a record of 3-28, during his rookie head coaching campaign (2004), to a record mark of 20-11 and an appearance in the CCCAA regional playoffs in 2008.  The 20-win season was the first for El Camino Men’s Basketball since 1990.

After one season at the helm, Fenison stepped in as El Camino’s Interim Athletics Director, where he provided administrative oversight of the college’s 21 men's and women’s intercollegiate athletic programs and all associated support staff. During his time as athletics director, Fenison implemented an Academic Athletes Achievement program designed to improve student-athlete retention and matriculation rates.

Fenison is a Respiratory Therapist who has worked at Centinela Medical Center in Inglewood for over 20 years.  During the CoVID Pandemic his workload has soared and he has helped save hundreds of patients.  As a respiratory therapist, his work has ranged from administering breathing treatments, drawing arterial blood gas, managing life support ventilators and managing other therapists.

Fenison has also held assistant coach positions at a number of other four- and two-year academic institutions including Loyola Marymount University, CSU Los Angeles and UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly Pomona, Azusa Pacific and Chaffey College.

As a player, Fenison played and attended Mt. SAC and later transferred up the road to Azusa Pacific University to compete for the Cougars.

Fenison has also served as an executive board member on several organizations including the California Community Colleges Men’s Basketball Coaches Association, the El Camino College Faculty Federation and National Union of Healthcare Workers. He is a former executive board member of the SEIU-UHW and a current member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

updated  09/21/22