JOHN O'NEILL

Head Men's Basketball Coach

John O'Neill, who was Palomar's No. 1 assistant coach for three seasons, took over as head coach at the beginning of the 2002-2003 season and guided the Comets to their third Pacific Coast Conference championship in four years. In 2005-06, he coached Palomar to its fourth conference title in six seasons.

He was associate head coach under Virgil Watson, now the head coach at Contra Costa Community College, during Palomar's conference championship 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons.

O'Neill came to Palomar as an assistant under Watson after compiling a 343-208 record in 20 seasons on the high school level.

O'Neill's teams at Rancho Buena Vista High School compiled a 218-129 record, advanced to the CIF-San Diego Section quarterfinals or better every season, played in the CIF championship game four times and advanced to the semifinals three other times.

O'Neill received his B.S. degree from Pepperdine University. He began his basketball head coaching career in the CIF-Southern section. He was head coach at South Torrance High School for one season and was head coach at Bonita High School for seven seasons.

He coached Rancho Buena Vista to San Diego Section Division I championships in both 1994-95 and 1996-97. O'Neill's most successful team record was in his 1997-98 squad, which went 27-3, but lost in the semi-finals. He finished his tenure at RBV with five straight 20-win seasons and five consecutive Palomar League titles.

O'Neill lives in Vista with his wife Erin, son Casey and daughter Cahill. Casey O'Neill is a senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Cahill O'Neill is a freshman at Cal Poly.

ASSISTANT COACHES: Darren Kjeldsen, Brad Hollingsworth,  Charles Lawrence

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