| Title: | Head Coach |
| Phone: | 805.592.9703 |
| Email: | rblair@cuesta.edu |
| Previous College: | Oregon/ Cal Poly |
In his tenure as head coach Rusty has turned Cuesta College into a force in the state. He was named to lead the men's basketball program in June, 1992. In 1997, he led Cuesta College to its finest season ever, a 33-5 record and it’s only CCCAA State Finals appearance. He has led Cuesta to a fourteen 20-win seasons, eleven Western State Conference titles and twenty playoff berths in his thirty-two seasons as head coach. He was the WSC Coach of the Year in 1997, 1998, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019. Rusty has placed 114 of his student/athletes with scholarships at four-year colleges and universities, including 31 at the NCAA D-1 level.
Rusty came to Cuesta and took over the reins of the basketball program following an extensive playing and coaching career. A 1968 graduate of San Luis Obispo High School, where he was California State High School basketball player of the year and 1st team All American. He attended the University of Oregon, where he was a three-year starter for the Ducks. He played professionally for 12 seasons in Europe beginning in 1972 and returned briefly to the United States to serve as an assistant coach at Cal Poly SLO. He returned to Europe to play full-time in Belgium and Holland from 1977 until 1985. He averaged 27.2 points and 10.4 rebounds as a professional and in 1984-85 hit a Dutch record 95% of his free throws. During the 1978-79 season, Rusty led Europe in scoring with 38.5 points per game. Rusty coached several teams in Europe and while coaching in Holland's top professional league in 1989 led his team to within one game of the final eight of the European Championships. He received Coach of the Year honors.
Rusty earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon and his Master's and teaching credential from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He and his wife, Kaatje, have two children, Casey and Kelly. His daughter Kelly and his son Casey were both all-conference basketball players at Cuesta. The Blairs live in San Luis Obispo.
The Blair Record
Overall Conference Playoffs
Year W L Pct W L Place W L State
1993 6 23 207 1 7 5th ----- ----- -----
1994 22 10 688 4 4 3rd 0 1 -----
1995 26 10 722 7 3 2nd 2 1 -----
1996 22 12 588 10 0 1st 0 1 -----
1997 33 5 868 10 0 1st 3 1 5th
1998 25 10 714 7 1 1st 1 1 -----
1999 22 13 629 6 2 1st 0 1 -----
2000 16 19 457 5 5 3rd 0 1 -----
2001 15 18 455 5 5 3rd ----- ----- -----
2002 20 14 588 7 3 2nd 0 1 -----
2003 18 16 529 9 3 2nd 1 1 -----
2004 11 15 423 7 5 3rd ----- ----- -----
2005 7 18 280 5 7 5th ----- ----- -----
2006 16 16 500 10 2 2nd ----- ----- -----
2007 18 15 545 10 2 1st 0 1 -----
2008 12 20 375 6 6 3rd ----- ----- -----
2009 24 11 686 9 3 1st 0 1 -----
2010 26 6 813 11 1 1st 1 1 -----
2011 12 17 414 3 9 6th ----- ----- -----
2012 24 8 750 11 1 1st 1 1 -----
2013 18 14 563 5 5 4th 0 1 -----
2014 21 10 677 10 2 1st 0 1 -----
2015 19 10 655 9 3 1st 0 1 -----
2016 22 10 688 8 4 3rd 0 1 -----
2017 13 15 464 6 4 2nd ----- ----- -----
2018 16 16 500 6 4 3rd 0 1 -----
2019 22 8 733 8 2 1st 1 1 -----
2020 12 16 429 6 6 4th ----- ----- -----
2021 2 3 400 ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
2022 13 15 464 8 4 3rd ----- ----- -----
2023 15 14 517 6 6 4th 0 1 -----
Total 548 406 575 215 109 11 10 20
Western State Conference Coach of the Year
1997 Men’s Basketball
1998 Men’s Basketball
2009 Men’s Basketball
2010 Men’s Basketball
2012 Men’s Basketball
2014 Men’s Basketball
2015 Men’s Basketball
2019 Men’s Basketball
