Ground retires from basketball post

The Saddleback athletics department announced on Wednesday that coach Andy Ground has retired as the head men's basketball coach.  Ground started his career at Saddleback as a player in 1981.

Ground was immensely successful during his tenure at Saddleback, finishing with 307 wins in 13 seasons.  His .743 lifetime winning percentage ranks No. 2 all-time in the history of Saddleback basketball and his win total is second only to Bill Brummel, who coached at the school for 26 years.  Ground and Brummel were co-head coach during the 2006-07 season.

"Having been at the community college level for 21 years, 20 at Saddleback, the time has come for me to step down as the head coach," Ground said.  "I want to thank all the student-athletes, assistant coaches and support staff for all of their hard work and dedication over the years.  The combination of their efforts made coaching at Saddleback special and provided a lifetime of memories."

Ground won seven Orange Empire Conference championships during his tenure, and also teamed with Brummel for an eighth OEC championship in 2006-07.  His teams made it to the state final four on five occasions, winning state titles in both 2010 and 2015 while finishing runner-up in both 2009 and 2016.

Ground was voted the Orange Empire Conference Coach-of-the-Year seven times ('09, '12, '13, '14, '15, '16, '19) and was the CCCAA State Coach-of-the-Year on three occasions ('11, '15, '16). 

In addition to his success on the court, Ground has also been instrumental in the development of other coaches.  Former assistant Perry Webster is now the head coach at Fullerton College while former assistant Kyle Wallace was recently named the head coach at Southwestern College.

During Ground's tenure, over 70 players earned scholarships to four-year universities.  One of them was Webster, who transferred and played out his career at Cal State Fullerton before entering the coaching ranks.

"Andy Ground has changed hundreds of players' lives over the last 20 years at Saddleback," Webster said.   "I am so lucky I chose to play for him and have him impact my career as a player and then ultimately as a coach. Without his influence on me in many different aspects of life I wouldn't be the person I am today. I'll miss competing against him, because he makes you bring your best every chance he gets."

Ground played at Saddleback during the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons under Coach Brummel before earning a scholarship to play at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. He later played professionally in Lima, Peru, and in Bonn, Germany.

Ground returned to Southern California where he spent seven seasons as the varsity boys coach at Tustin High School, compiling a 154-49 record with three league titles and post-season playoff appearances in each of those seven seasons. Five of his teams reached the CIF quarterfinal round.

Ground came to Saddleback as an assistant coach in 1999 and proved to be an outstanding recruiter in addition to his coaching duties. He spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before being named co-head coach for the 2006-07 season. In those eight seasons he helped guide the Gauchos to a 215-51 overall record, five Orange Empire Conference titles, and two conference runner-up finishes. Saddleback participated in the post-season in each of those years, reaching the state tournament semifinals five times and winning the college's first-ever state title for men's basketball in 2001-02.

Ground left the program prior to the 2007-08 season and was hired as an assistant coach at Irvine Valley College, helping the Lasers to a 27-5 overall record and a runner-up finish in the Orange Empire Conference.