The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

Hodges, Melendez to retire after a combined six decades of coaching

After a combined 60 years of experience as the head coaches of City College teams, basketball coach Morris Hodges and golf coach Chuck Melendez will be retiring at the end of the school year.

The two veterans of the athletic department will be taking the Supplemental Retirement Plan implemented by City College to save money as the college faces a budget deficit.

Hodges spent 30 years at the school as a coach and instructor and served as the dean of coaches. His men’s basketball teams compiled a record of 260 wins and 569 losses over that three-decade period. He was named Western State Conference North Division Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1999, but the team has struggled since with only one winning season in the last 20 years and a division record of 10-102 in the last decade. 

Hodges and Melendez have taught several physical education classes on campus, including basketball, volleyball, golf and tennis.

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Before becoming the head coach of men’s and women’s golf, Chuck Melendez coached baseball and football at City College in the 90s. 

He joined the women’s golf program at City College in 2000 and has gone on to win four state championships over the past twenty years. He has been named WSC Women’s Golf Coach of the Year six times. Melendez coaches the women’s team in the fall and the men’s team, which he became the head coach of in 2001, in the spring. In 2019, the men set the school record for wins at 146-20 and took second in the state championships. During his tenure, Melendez has coached his teams to victory at some of the most well-known courses in the state. He has sent multiple players to four-year universities and, eventually, onto the PGA Tour

Editors note: The story has been edited for accuracy. The Women’s golf team did not go 0-16 in Coach Melendez’s first season. 

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