Cuesta Track & Field Coach Brian Locher (pict- 2007 & 2021) has been selected as the 2022 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Women's Track & Field State Coach of the Year.  Locher has brought the Cougars back to elite status in the CCCAA.  The Cougars 6th place finish at the 2022 CCCAA State Championship marks their fifth straight Top 20 performance and their seventh during his ten full seasons with Cuesta.  The Cougars sent eight athletes to compete in 13 events at the CCCAA State Meet to earn the team's best finish since placing 3rd in the State in 1988.  

Coach Locher joined Cuesta Athletics in 2007 as the program's Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach and added track & field to his portfolio in 2011.  The Cougars have reached the CCCAA State Meet in all ten of his full seasons and have peaked in the Western State Conference over the past three full seasons.  The Cougars won their first WSC Championship since 1988, and fourth overall, in 2021, while adding Runner-up finishes in both 2019 and 2022. 

This month's honor marks the second time Coach Locher has earned CCCAA State Coach of the Year honors, he was also the 2011 CCCAA Women's Cross Country State Coach of the Year.  Cuesta Athletics now boasts two 2021-22 CCCAA State Coaches of the Year, with Locher joining Cuesta Women's Swim & Dive Coach John Marsh.  He and Marsh, who was the 2019 CCCAA Men's Water Polo Coach of the Year, also join former Women's Tennis Coach Mike Napoli (2002, 2008) and former Men's Swim & Dive Coach Terry Bowen (1995, 1998) as Cuesta Athletics' other muliple CCCAA State Coach of the Year recipients.  Former Women's Volleyball Coach Hugh Gerhardt (1986) and former Women's Basketball Coach Ed Musolff (1997) round out the Cougars' list of CCCAA State Coach of the Year recipients.

Coach Locher stepped down from both his cross country and track & field positions after the season to spend more time with his family.  He leaves a legacy of achievement and high expectations with all four team's under his charge.   

Cuesta State Coaches of the Year

1986  Hugh Gerhardt- Women's Volleyball

1995  Terry Bowen- Men's Swim & Dive

1997  Ed Musolff- Women's Basketball

1998  Terry Bowen- Men's Swim & Dive

2002  Mike Napoli- Women's Tennis

2008  Mike Napoli- Women's Tennis

2011  Brian Locher- Women's Cross Country

2019  John Marsh- Men's Water Polo

2022  John Marsh- Women's Swim & Dive

2022  Brian Locher- Women's Track & Field