Leopoldo Balayon III is a Filipino college basketball coach and athletic director in the United States. After a brief haitus, Balayon recently returned to Bethesda University and resumed his tenure as director of athletics while taking a break from coaching men's basketball. Prior to this Balayon founded the athletics program at Stanton University in Garden Grove, California. He also briefly served as athletic director and head men's basketball coach there. During his first tenure at Bethesda University, Balayon served as the director of athletics and men's basketball coach. Balayon is the first individual, born and raised, in the Philippines to become a college head men's basketball coach in the United States. He is also the only head men's basketball coach in college basketball history to lead a non-NCAA/NAIA program to two upset victories against an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

opponent.

Career

Balayon began his coaching career in 2003 as an assistant coach for the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 200 ...

of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines or UAAP. In 2009, Balayon became an assistant coach for the defunct Pacifica College of Moreno Valley, California. After two seasons at Pacifica, Balayon moved on to become an assistant coach with

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, a Division III program in Pasadena, California. Balayon also briefly served as an assistant coach for the Afghanistan men's basketball national team.In 2013, Balayon joined Bethesda University's athletic program and served as associate head coach for both the men and women's basketball teams. He was eventually promoted to head men's basketball coach in 2015. While at Bethesda University, Balayon became the only head coach in college basketball history to lead a non-NCAA/NAIA program to a victory against an NCAA Division I opponent twice. Both historic upsets came at the expense of

Cal State Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balayon, Leo Filipino men's basketball coaches Filipino expatriates in the United States College men's basketball coaches in the United States Year of birth missing (living people) Living people