Bio

Jeff Klein just completed his 22nd season as the head coach of the Chaffey College Men’s Basketball program. The 2023-24 will be Klein’s 39th season overall. He was named the first professional expert to coach Men’s Basketball at a California Community College in 2001. This title enabled Klein to be a full-time coach.

Over the last 22 years with Klein as the coach, the Panthers have averaged 22 wins per season (468 -188); with fourteen 20+ win seasons. Klein has claimed championships for Chaffey 9 times (spanning three conferences), and has been named conference coach of the year nine times and State coach of the year twice.  His teams have gone to the playoffs 19 off those years, made one trip to the state finals, three Final Four appearances, and one Elite Eight appearance.  110 Panther alumni have received scholarships to four-year universities and many of his student-athletes have pursued careers as professional basketball players and coaches worldwide.

The 2019-20 season was the Panthers inaugural year in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference. The Panthers rose to the occasion and finished 23-6 overall and undefeated (16-0) in the conference.  Sophomores Darren Williams, Manu Oulai, and Aaron Johnson led the Panthers to a conference championship for a second consecutive year.  The 2019-20 team was also extremely successful in the classroom with nine players named to the college's scholar-athlete roll.

Coach Klein, at age 23, became the youngest head coach in Southern California when he took the job at South Pasadena High School. Before coming to Chaffey, Klein concluded a dramatic season at Upland High School where he coached the Highlanders to a CIF Division 1-AAA title in 2001. Under his direction, the Highlanders ranked in the Top 10 nationally and won 28 games in a row. During his nine seasons at Upland, Klein led the team to three league titles and made the CIF playoffs every year starting in 1995. Klein has earned top honors in coaching being named “Coach of the Year” by the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association (SCIBCA), Fox Sports West 2 television, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and the Los Angeles Times. He was also honored as the “Teacher of the Year” in 1996 from Upland High School.

Coach Klein has been fortunate to coach many fine student-athletes. Many have gone on to attend 4-year universities, and a few have reached the NBA. Stacey Augmon (UNLV / 13 yrs NBA/ Coaching Milwaukee Bucks), Desmond Penigar (Utah State/Orlando Magic), Jesse Pruitt (UC Davis / Coaching Stanford University), Kirk Snyder (Nevada/Utah Jazz/Houston Rockets), and Jimmy Alapag (Sacramento Kings Assistant Coach Cal State San Bernardino/Captain/MVP Philippine Basketball Association, FIBA Players Commission), Jeffrey Cammon (Alcorn State / HC Long Beach State, HC St Mary’s) are those who made it to the big time.

Coach Klein graduated from Lawrence High School on Long Island, New York, where he was an All-County athlete in football, basketball, and track. A graduate of SUNY at Cortland, Jeff earned his BS degree in Physical Education in 1985. In 1989, Jeff completed his MBA from the University of La Verne.

Over the years, Coach Klein has hosted a very successful 50-50 basketball camp in which he has influenced many young athletes in the fundamentals of basketball. Klein was on the basketball coaching staff of the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel. His squad won the Gold Medal beating Turkey, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina and Israel in the Championship game. In 2023, Klein traveled to Montenegro and presented at a Masterclass clinician and was part of a Pro tryout camp. Klein enjoys spending time with his two children Danny (31) and Amanda (29), and traveling all over the world.