Eric Olen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | New Mexico |
| Conference | Mountain West |
| Record | 26–11 (.703) |
| Annual salary | $1.2 million |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | October 15, 1980 Mobile, Alabama, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1999–2004 | Spring Hill |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2004–2013 | UC San Diego (assistant) |
| 2013–2025 | UC San Diego |
| 2025–present | New Mexico |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 266–130 (.672) |
| Tournaments | 0–1 (NCAA DI) 5–4 (NCAA DII) 0–1 (CBI) 3–1 (NIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 3 CCAA regular season (2017, 2019, 2020) 4 CCAA tournament (2017–2020) Big West tournament (2025) Big West regular season (2025) | |
| Awards | |
| 2× Big West Coach of the Year (2024, 2025) 2× CCAA Coach of the Year (2017, 2020) NABC Pacific District Coach of the Year (2025) | |
Eric Olen (born October 15, 1980)[1] is an American college basketball coach who is the current head men's basketball coach at the University of New Mexico. He was previously the head coach at UC San Diego from 2013 to 2025.
Olen grew up in Mobile, Alabama and prepped at McGill–Toolen Catholic High School. Olen went on to play collegiately at Spring Hill College, where he was part of three straight NAIA national tournament appearances for the Badgers, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2000.[2]
Coaching career
Olen joined his former college coach Bill Carr as an assistant at UC San Diego in 2004, and stayed in the role until 2013 before being promoted to head coach after then head coach Chris Carlson left for an administrative role with the West Coast Conference.[3][4] Olen has since led the Tritons to three CCAA regular season titles and four consecutive conference tournament titles in addition to four NCAA Division II tournament appearances.[2] He guided the Tritons men's basketball program into its status in NCAA Division I as members of the Big West Conference beginning in 2020-21.[5]