Brian Fogel is a man known for being a very successful head coach for Chico State. When he is not coaching, he’s also known for scoping out talent and developing strong relationships with his players.

“He’s an incredible coach and a great communicator,” said junior forward Haley Ison. “Early into my senior year, coach Brian reached out to me and let me know he had seen me the year prior and that he was still interested in getting to know me and that he had been following my junior season.”

Fogel is in his 13th season as the head coach of the women’s basketball team. But before Fogel came to Chico State to coach, he made incredible accomplishments on the court.

“When I played the league was called the NCAC, the Northern California Athletic Conference,” Fogel said. “I was a member of a championship team. I’m very proud of that.”

During his time at Chico State, Fogel has many accomplishments including a 196-141 record, a California Collegiate Athletic Association title, nine postseason appearances, and four NCAA Championships according to Chico State Athletics.

On Dec. 7, 2013, Fogel achieved a milestone with the Wildcats by securing his 100th victory as their head coach in a game against Sonoma State. 

“What it really means is just trying to build some consistency and I am very grateful to be able to be at one place for a long time,” Fogel said. “Just grateful for the opportunity.”

Fogel comes from a strong family background where he has a loving wife and two wonderful daughters. He expressed gratitude for them during these difficult times with the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m very fortunate to have a strong family,” Fogel said. “I have a great wife who’s been tremendously supportive of all my moves that I’ve made in basketball. She’s really the backbone behind our family.”

Fogel has a strong staff including his assistant coach Meghan de los Reyes, who’s been coaching with him for three seasons now. She expressed her gratitude toward Fogel and how much she admires him as a coach.

“I just can’t tell you enough how appreciative I am to have such an incredible mentor and guy to work for,” de los Reyes said. “He’s brilliant basketball wise, but even more so he’s just been such a friend to me. We’ve just really been able to have some tremendous conversations and really get to know each other.”

With the status of COVID-19 putting the ability to play games for the school on hold, Ison went on to talk about how supportive she thinks Fogel has been throughout this pandemic.

“He’s done an amazing job,” Ison said. “He [Fogel] I think has been the most optimistic of anybody since this thing started. He has always kept his very optimistic point of view and he’s just so excited to get everybody back together.”

Alex Martin can be reached at [email protected] or @alexmartinjour on Twitter.