Anthony Susnjara has been named as an assistant men's basketball coach at Irvine Valley College.
Susnjara moves into an assistant spot that became available when Andrew Alhadeff was named the new men's head coach at Cypress College last month.
Jason Garey, who will be entering his sixth season as an assistant at Irvine Valley, has also been named the associate head coach for the Lasers.
Susnjara brings a wealth of knowledge to the Laser staff and head coach Jerry Hernandez is happy to have him.
Susnjara is the founder and director of the West Coast Basketball Academy, is a former high school varsity assistant at Santa Margarita and played professionally in Australia.
The 6-8 Susnjara began playing basketball at age 14 for Bossley Park High School in Sydney, Australia.
He moved from there to Westfields Sports High School in Australia and then transferred to St. John's College High School in Washington D.C. to compete in arguably the toughest high school league in America, the WCAC.
After a successful senior year he fielded several college scholarship offers, ultimately deciding on Coastal Carolina University, in South Carolina.
Susnjara was a center and power forward for Coastal Carolina in the Big South Conference from 1999-2004.
He graduated from Coastal Carolina with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Education.
Upon graduation, Susnjara returned to Australia to play professional basketball with the Sydney Kings in the NBL.
He competed in the Kings first China Tour in 2006, playing against the Chinese National Team.
In 2007, he represented his country as captain playing in the RP-Australia Goodwill Games in the Philippines.
He also competed for the Ballarat Miners in Australia and the Harbour Heat in New Zealand.
In 2008, Susnjara won a championship playing for Keflavik in the Icelandic Express League. He finished his career playing for the Townsville Crocodiles in the Australian NBL. Susnjara was named first team all-league and team MVP his final season.
The Irvine Valley men's basketball team begins its 2014-15 season on Friday, Nov. 14 when it hosts Cuyamaca at 5 p.m.