James Sebastian Saia (born June 15, 1964) is an American men's basketball player and coach. Saia is currently the men's head basketball coach at California State University, Los Angeles.
Born in San Francisco, Saia prepped at Sir Francis Drake High in San Anselmo, California and graduated in 1982. He then transferred to College of Marin for the 1984âÂÂ85 season and finished at Chapman University for his final two years, where he would join his childhood friend Steve Lavin. Saia graduated from Chapman in 1987.
Saia began his coaching career as an assistant under Lou Campanelli at California in the 1988âÂÂ89 season then was an assistant at Indiana State in the 1989âÂÂ90 season and Fresno State from 1990 to 1994.</reF>
From 1994 to 1996, Saia was head coach at Columbia College, a junior college in Sonora, California. He led Columbia to a 61âÂÂ10 cumulative record, two Central Valley Conference titles, and an appearance in the Final Eight round of the 1996 CCCAA tournament.
Saia then returned to the Division I level as an assistant at UCLA under Steve Lavin, a position for which Saia stayed from 1996 until 2003, after Lavin was fired. At UCLA, Saia coached future NBA players like Baron Davis, Earl Watson, Jason Kapono, and Matt Barnes.
Originally an assistant in the 2004âÂÂ05 season, Saia took over as interim head coach at USC after the firing of Henry Bibby in December. USC went 10âÂÂ15 for the rest of the season under Saia.<reF></reF>
Saia returned to the junior college ranks as an assistant coach at Citrus in the 2006-07 season. From 2007 to 2010, Saia was head coach at Fresno Pacific, an NAIA school at the time. At Fresno Pacific, Saia had a 70âÂÂ29 overall record with two NAIA Tournament appearances.
Saia was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Sparks during the 2010 season.
On May 25, 2010, Cal State San Marcos hired Saia as its inaugural men's basketball head coach. The program's first season was in 2011âÂÂ12, in which Cal State San Marcos competed in the NAIA level and advanced to the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) title game. In the 2012-13 season, Saia led Cal State San Marcos to its first appearance in the NAIA Tournament. Cal State San Marcos later had two straight seasons with 30 or more wins in 2013âÂÂ14 and 2014âÂÂ15, and Saia won AII Coach of the Year honors both seasons. Saia coached at Cal State San Marcos through the 2015âÂÂ16 season, its first in the NCAA Division II level and California Collegiate Athletic Association and in which the team finished 15âÂÂ12.
Cal State Los Angeles hired Saia as head coach on June 6, 2016.</reF>
Saia and his wife, Stacey, have three daughters and a son.
Saia is close friends with Steve Lavin, having played on the same team with him at Sir Francis Drake High School and Chapman University, and served as an assistant coach when Lavin was UCLA's head coach.