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Mark Trakh

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Mark Trakh
Biographical details
Born (1955-05-31) May 31, 1955 (age 69)
Amman, Jordan
Alma materLong Beach State (1981)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1979–1980Western HS (boys' sophomore)
1980–1993Brea Olinda HS
1993–2004Pepperdine
2004–2009USC
2011–2017New Mexico State
2017–2021USC
Head coaching record
Overall354–45 (.887) (high school)
450–317 (.587) (college)
Tournaments2–7 (NCAA)
0–3 (WNIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships

Mark Ozeir Trakh (born May 31, 1955)[1][2] is a Jordanian college basketball coach who had been the women's basketball head coach at the University of Southern California (USC) from 2004 to 2009 and 2017 to 2021. Before his first stint at USC, he was head coach at Pepperdine University, and was head coach at New Mexico State University before returning to USC.[3]

Early life and education

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Trakh was born in Amman, Jordan and moved to the United States with his family at age 4. Trakh's grandparents are from the Caucasus Mountains and moved to Amman in 1918 to escape Communist rule in Russia.[4] Trakh can speak Circassian and Arabic in addition to English.[4]

In the U.S., the Trakhs first lived in Connecticut and Paterson, New Jersey before settling in Wanaque, New Jersey.[1][4] A baseball and basketball student-athlete, Trakh graduated from Lakeland Regional High School.[1] After high school, Trakh attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, before joining his family in Southern California and transferring to Fullerton College in 1977. A journalism major, Trakh was sports editor at the Fullerton College student newspaper and freelancer for the Fullerton News-Tribune.[4] In 1979, Trakh transferred to California State University, Long Beach (Long Beach State) to pursue a teaching credential.[4] Trakh graduated from Long Beach State in 1981.[5]

Coaching career

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While in high school, Trakh coached junior high and youth basketball.[4] Trakh was boys' sophomore head coach for Western High School in Anaheim in the 1979–80 season before becoming girls' varsity head coach at Brea Olinda High School, a position he would hold from 1980 to 1993. Inheriting a program that won only four games in the previous two seasons,[6] Trakh had a 354–45 overall record with four state titles (1989, 1991–93).[5] At Brea Olinda, Trakh also was an English teacher.[1]

From 1993 to 2004, Trakh was head coach at Pepperdine University. He led Pepperdine to four West Coast Conference regular season titles (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003) and had consecutive NCAA or WNIT appearances in his final six seasons.[5]

Trakh was head coach at USC from 2004 to 2009, during which he had a 90–64 overall record with NCAA Tournament appearances in 2005 and 2006.[5] Although Trakh recruited four top-12 recruiting classes, including the USA Today number-one class in 2006, USC never finished above fourth place in the Pac-10 in Trakh's five years and did not make any postseason tournaments after 2006.[7] On April 8, 2009, Trakh resigned from USC.[8]

On April 8, 2011, New Mexico State hired Trakh as head coach.[7] Trakh's time at New Mexico State began with three consecutive losing seasons before the first of three consecutive first-place finishes in the Western Athletic Conference in 2015.[9]

After six seasons at New Mexico State, he returned to USC during the 2017 offseason, replacing Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, who had resigned for unspecified reasons after the 2016–17 season.[3]

Trakh announced his retirement from coaching on April 21, 2021.[10]

Personal life

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Mark Trakh's younger brother Maz is also a basketball coach;[11] at the time of Mark's return to USC, Maz was an assistant with the NBA's Washington Wizards.[3]

Head coaching record

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This section covers Trakh's head coaching record in NCAA Division I.

Source for Pepperdine records:[12]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Pepperdine Waves (West Coast Conference) (1993–2004)
1993–94 Pepperdine 14–12 6–8 T–5th
1994–95 Pepperdine 10–16 4–10 T–6th
1995–96 Pepperdine 15–13 7–7 T–4th
1996–97 Pepperdine 15–13 6–8 5th
1997–98 Pepperdine 21–10 10–4 2nd
1998–99 Pepperdine 21–9 11–3 T–1st WNIT First Round
1999–2000 Pepperdine 21–10 12–2 1st NCAA first round
2000–01 Pepperdine 20–11 10–4 T–3rd WNIT First Round
2001–02 Pepperdine 23–8 11–3 1st NCAA first round
2002–03 Pepperdine 22–8 12–2 1st NCAA first round
2003–04 Pepperdine 17–13 10–4 T–2nd WNIT First Round
Pepperdine: 199–123 (.618) 99–55 (.643)
USC Trojans (Pacific-10 Conference) (2004–2009)
2004–05 USC 20–11 12–6 T–4th NCAA second round
2005–06 USC 19–12 11–7 5th NCAA second round
2006–07 USC 17–13 10–8 5th
2007–08 USC 17–13 10–8 T–4th
2008–09 USC 17–15 9–9 T–4th
USC (first stint): 90–64 (.584) 52–38 (.578)
New Mexico State Aggies (Western Athletic Conference) (2011–2017)
2011–12 New Mexico State 6–24 3–11 T–7th
2012–13 New Mexico State 15–16 7–11 8th
2013–14 New Mexico State 11–20 7–9 T–6th
2014–15 New Mexico State 22–8 13–1 1st NCAA first round
2015–16 New Mexico State 26–5 13–1 1st NCAA first round
2016–17 New Mexico State 24–7 14–0 1st NCAA first round
New Mexico State: 104–80 (.565) 57–33 (.633)
USC Trojans (Pac-12 Conference) (2017–2021)
2017–18 USC 20–11 9–9 7th
2018–19 USC 17–13 7–11 T–8th
2019–20 USC 17–14 8–10
2020–21 USC 11–12 8–10
USC: 65–50 (.565) 36–40 (.474)
Total: 450–317 (.587)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion


References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Mark Trakh". USC. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  2. ^ California Commission on Teacher Credentialing search for Mark Trakh
  3. ^ a b c "USC brings back Mark Trakh as women's basketball coach". ESPN.com. Associated Press. April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Carter, Donna (January 11, 1989). "MELLOWING : Trakh Works to Soften His Rough Edges While Adding to His Lofty Record at Brea". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d "Mark Trakh". New Mexico State. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  6. ^ Hamilton, Tom (January 23, 1985). "GIRLS: From Brea-Olinda's polished program to the frustrations at Magnolia, girls basketball is going through growing pains". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Mark Trakh Named NM State Women's Basketball Head Coach". New Mexico State. April 8, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  8. ^ "Mark Trakh Resigns As Women's Basketball Head Coach". USC. Archived from the original on August 26, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  9. ^ "Women's Basketball Coaches Career". NCAA. Retrieved 30 Sep 2015.
  10. ^ "Mark Trakh Retires As USC Women's Basketball Head Coach". USC Athletics. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  11. ^ Groves, Jason. "Trakh adds offense to Aggies in second year". Las Cruces Sun-News. Alt URL
  12. ^ WCC women's basketball record book[permanent dead link‍], pp. 40–44
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