Men's Basketball

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Jesse Pruitt is in his eighth season on the Santa Clara men’s basketball staff, including fourth as an assistant coach.

In 2013-14, the Broncos won 14 games and saw Jared Brownridge receive WCC Freshman of the Year on the way to breaking seven school records.

Collecting a 26-12 record, the Broncos won the College Basketball Invitational post-season tournament after winning the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2011.  The Broncos final RPI was No. 68 and record-wise, they claimed the biggest turnaround in Division I basketball this year.  The 26 wins were just one shy of the school record set by the 1968-69 team who collected 27 wins.

Santa Clara won 26 games in 2012-13 after winning 21 regular season games for the first time in almost 20 years on the Mission campus.  Pruitt was essential to the Broncos run, helping coach two first-team All-WCC members in 2013 in Marc Trasolini and Kevin Foster, the second-all-time leading scorer in West Coast Conference history.  In addition to their success on the court, all five seniors are on tap to graduate in June as well.

All told the Broncos combined to break 22 school and WCC records in 2012-13.  Foster broke the all-time WCC record for threes made, finishing tied for fourth in Division I history with 431.  In addition to winning the CBI and finishing fourth in the WCC, the Broncos broke eight individual career records and five individual season records.  As a team the Broncos broke eight season records as well.  They also led the West Coast Conference in two team categories and two individual categories overall and two team categories and three individual categories in league games.

Pruitt’s was the Director of Basketball Operations for three years and began his SCU tenure as the video coordinator in 2008-09.

Pruitt joined the Bronco staff after serving two years as an assistant under Head Coach Greg Kamansky at Division II powerhouse Cal Poly Pomona. Pruitt's main responsibilities with the Broncos were player development, film exchange, recruiting and game preparation.

He graduated from UC Davis in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in Sociology-Organizational Studies. He was a member of the Aggies team for two seasons under former UC Davis head coach Brian Fogel. Pruitt had a career-high 14 points against UC San Diego in a thrilling 2OT victory on Jan. 25, 2003.

Pruitt earned three varsity letters at Upland High School. He was the team captain as a senior and led the team to a 33-2 record and a CIF Southern Section championship, a No. 4 state ranking and a No. 10 national ranking.

Pruitt is a native of Pomona, Calif. He has worked at several basketball camps including: Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fullerton, Double Pump, Maryland, Pangos All-American, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine and UCLA.

Married the former Mary Jo Alexander on Oct. 2, 2010 in Palo Alto, Calif. and they reside in Santa Clara.  Pruitt’s wife was an All-American runner at UC Davis and she is an assistant coach with the Stanford University track and field and cross country teams.  They welcomed their first child, Gisele Brin, on March 5, 2013.