Russell White
Russell White
Title: Head Coach
Phone: (805) 493-3404
Email: mensbasketball@callutheran.edu
Years at CLU: 4

Russell White was named the men's basketball coach in July of 2019. The 13th head coach in program history is a 1994 graduate and competed with the basketball and golf teams while attending CLU. In 1995, White got his teaching credential from Cal Lutheran.  

Before coming home to Cal Lutheran, Coach White was the head coach at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino for 13 seasons. During his tenure, the Celts went to the playoffs 12 times, including seven CIF semi-final appearances, seven state championship appearances, two CIF Southern Section titles and two state titles. The Celts accumulated more than 22 wins per year.

Coach White has coached several players that went on to play professionally: Drew Housman (Calabasas/Harvard/Israel), Jerramy King (Crespi/Long Beach/Philippines), London Perrantes (Crespi/Virginia/Austin Spurs), DJ Ursery (Crespi/Pacific/Chile), Max Heidegger (Crespi/UCSB/Israel) and De’Anthony Melton (Crespi/USC/Memphis Grizzlies). At Crespi, he also coached current Division I players Russell Stong (UCLA), and Kyle Owens (Montana).

Immediately upon graduation from Cal Lutheran, White coached lower levels at Chaminade High School from 1994-99 and was the head coach at Calabasas from 1999-2006. He then accepted the job at Crespi in 2006, where he is the winningest coach in school history. He was named California State Coach of the Year in 2015 for Division 4 and then for the entire state in 2016.

Coach White has also been on The KYP Podcast, which is hosted by Nick Sainato, on July 13, 2020. 

He and his wife Tara live in Thousand Oaks with their two sons, Peyton and Spencer.