| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1955-05-31)May 31, 1955 (age 70) Amman, Jordan |
| Alma mater | Long Beach State (1981) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1979–1980 | Western HS (boys' sophomore) |
| 1980–1993 | Brea Olinda HS |
| 1993–2004 | Pepperdine |
| 2004–2009 | USC |
| 2011–2017 | New Mexico State |
| 2017–2021 | USC |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 354–45 (.887) (high school) 450–317 (.587) (college) |
| Tournaments | 2–7 (NCAA) 0–3 (WNIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| |
Mark Ozeir Trakh (born May 31, 1955)[1][2] is a Jordanian college basketball coach who had been the women's basketball head coach at theUniversity of Southern California (USC) from 2004 to 2009 and 2017 to 2021. Before his first stint at USC, he was head coach atPepperdine University, and was head coach atNew Mexico State University before returning to USC.[3]
Trakh was born inAmman,Jordan and moved to the United States with his family at age 4. Trakh's grandparents are from theCaucasus Mountains and moved to Amman in 1918 to escapeCommunist rule in Russia.[4] Trakh can speakCircassian andArabic in addition to English.[4]
In the U.S., the Trakhs first lived inConnecticut andPaterson, New Jersey before settling inWanaque, New Jersey.[1][4] A baseball and basketball student-athlete, Trakh graduated fromLakeland Regional High School.[1] After high school, Trakh attendedFairleigh Dickinson University, before joining his family in Southern California and transferring toFullerton College in 1977. Ajournalism major, Trakh was sports editor at the Fullerton College student newspaper and freelancer for the FullertonNews-Tribune.[4] In 1979, Trakh transferred toCalifornia State University, Long Beach (Long Beach State) to pursue a teaching credential.[4] Trakh graduated from Long Beach State in 1981.[5]
While in high school, Trakh coached junior high and youth basketball.[4] Trakh was boys' sophomore head coach forWestern High School inAnaheim in the 1979–80 season before becoming girls' varsity head coach atBrea Olinda High School, a position he would hold from 1980 to 1993. Inheriting a program that won only four games in the previous two seasons,[6] Trakh had a 354–45 overall record with four state titles (1989, 1991–93).[5] At Brea Olinda, Trakh also was an English teacher.[1]
From 1993 to 2004, Trakh was head coach atPepperdine University. He led Pepperdine to fourWest Coast Conference regular season titles (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003) and had consecutive NCAA or WNIT appearances in his final six seasons.[5]
Trakh was head coach atUSC from 2004 to 2009, during which he had a 90–64 overall record with NCAA Tournament appearances in 2005 and 2006.[5] Although Trakh recruited four top-12 recruiting classes, including theUSA Today number-one class in 2006, USC never finished above fourth place in thePac-10 in Trakh's five years and did not make any postseason tournaments after 2006.[7] On April 8, 2009, Trakh resigned from USC.[8]
On April 8, 2011,New Mexico State hired Trakh as head coach.[7] Trakh's time at New Mexico State began with three consecutive losing seasons before the first of three consecutive first-place finishes in theWestern Athletic Conference in 2015.[9]
After six seasons at New Mexico State, he returned to USC during the 2017 offseason, replacingCynthia Cooper-Dyke, who had resigned for unspecified reasons after the 2016–17 season.[3]
Trakh announced his retirement from coaching on April 21, 2021.[10]
Mark Trakh's younger brotherMaz is also a basketball coach;[11] at the time of Mark's return to USC, Maz was an assistant with theNBA'sWashington Wizards.[3]
This section covers Trakh's head coaching record inNCAA Division I.
Source for Pepperdine records:[12]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperdine Waves(West Coast Conference)(1993–2004) | |||||||||
| 1993–94 | Pepperdine | 14–12 | 6–8 | T–5th | |||||
| 1994–95 | Pepperdine | 10–16 | 4–10 | T–6th | |||||
| 1995–96 | Pepperdine | 15–13 | 7–7 | T–4th | |||||
| 1996–97 | Pepperdine | 15–13 | 6–8 | 5th | |||||
| 1997–98 | Pepperdine | 21–10 | 10–4 | 2nd | |||||
| 1998–99 | Pepperdine | 21–9 | 11–3 | T–1st | WNIT First Round | ||||
| 1999–2000 | Pepperdine | 21–10 | 12–2 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 2000–01 | Pepperdine | 20–11 | 10–4 | T–3rd | WNIT First Round | ||||
| 2001–02 | Pepperdine | 23–8 | 11–3 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 2002–03 | Pepperdine | 22–8 | 12–2 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 2003–04 | Pepperdine | 17–13 | 10–4 | T–2nd | WNIT First Round | ||||
| Pepperdine: | 199–123 (.618) | 99–55 (.643) | |||||||
| USC Trojans(Pacific-10 Conference)(2004–2009) | |||||||||
| 2004–05 | USC | 20–11 | 12–6 | T–4th | NCAA second round | ||||
| 2005–06 | USC | 19–12 | 11–7 | 5th | NCAA second round | ||||
| 2006–07 | USC | 17–13 | 10–8 | 5th | |||||
| 2007–08 | USC | 17–13 | 10–8 | T–4th | |||||
| 2008–09 | USC | 17–15 | 9–9 | T–4th | |||||
| USC (first stint): | 90–64 (.584) | 52–38 (.578) | |||||||
| New Mexico State Aggies(Western Athletic Conference)(2011–2017) | |||||||||
| 2011–12 | New Mexico State | 6–24 | 3–11 | T–7th | |||||
| 2012–13 | New Mexico State | 15–16 | 7–11 | 8th | |||||
| 2013–14 | New Mexico State | 11–20 | 7–9 | T–6th | |||||
| 2014–15 | New Mexico State | 22–8 | 13–1 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 2015–16 | New Mexico State | 26–5 | 13–1 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 2016–17 | New Mexico State | 24–7 | 14–0 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| New Mexico State: | 104–80 (.565) | 57–33 (.633) | |||||||
| USC Trojans(Pac-12 Conference)(2017–2021) | |||||||||
| 2017–18 | USC | 20–11 | 9–9 | 7th | |||||
| 2018–19 | USC | 17–13 | 7–11 | T–8th | |||||
| 2019–20 | USC | 17–14 | 8–10 | ||||||
| 2020–21 | USC | 11–12 | 8–10 | ||||||
| USC: | 65–50 (.565) | 36–40 (.474) | |||||||
| Total: | 450–317 (.587) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||