Irvine Valley men's basketball assistant coach Andrew Alhadeff was officially announced as the new head coach at Cypress last week.
Alhadeff had been an assistant at IVC under Jerry Hernandez for the last eight years and the associate head coach for the last three seasons.
"This is a career opportunity for him," Hernandez said. "And I really think Drew is going to lead Cypress to great things."
Alhadeff becomes only the fourth head coach in the 48-year existence of the Cypress program.
In his time at Irvine Valley, the team compiled a record of 169-73, which included back-to-back trips to the State "Elite 8" in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Irvine Valley College was also ranked No. 1 in the State for the first time in school history during the 2013-14 season.
He has helped move 38 Irvine Valley players on to receive scholarships at the four-year level, with 16 of those players receiving Division 1 scholarships.
Alhadeff had a hand in helping to develop 26 all-conference players for the Lasers, as well as an All-State player (Travis Fulton, 2011).
Alhadeff takes the helm of a Charger basketball team that finished with a record of 7-20 overall and 2-10 for seventh place in the Orange Empire Conference last season.
"I am thrilled to be the head coach at Cypress, but will deeply miss working alongside, learning from and interacting with my colleagues and friends at IVC," Alhadeff said. "It has been a privilege to coach side-by-side with Jerry (Hernandez) for the past eight years. I am truly honored to have been part of his program that was built on integrity, education and hard work.
"Jerry has helped to give me the tools and opportunities in order to achieve my dream of becoming a head coach and for that I am truly grateful."
Hernandez said Cypress is getting a coach that has a great attention to detail, is especially strong on the defensive side of the ball and has a close rapport with his players.
"Cypress wanted a teacher and coach at this level, someone who really knows the community college level and they got their guy," Hernandez said. "He is perfect for it. Cypress is getting the whole package with Drew. Our data and record and stats at Irvine Valley over the last few years show the impact that he has made."
Hernandez has taken special pride in helping to mentor his assistant coaches along the way. Alhadeff is the third former assistant coach that has landed a head coaching position at the college level.
"It is flattering," said Hernandez, who will be entering his 20th season as head coach at Irvine Valley this coming fall. "It means a lot to know that others think that our Irvine Valley program is operating in the right way and at a high level. But it is the way I learned. I am old school in that way.
"I learned from one of the best in Jack Bogdanovich at Cerritos and he passed all of his knowledge on to me and helped me become a better coach. I want to help develop and teach my staff like Drew so that they can further their careers. That goes for my players and coaches. I want to prepare them to move on."
