Veloso Named Basketball Coach
SANTA CLARA, Calif.-- Mission College has hired Half Moon Bay's Antonio Veloso, one of the top prep coaches in the Central Coast Section, as its new women's basketball coach.
Veloso, a member of the Santa Clara Bronco Athletics Hall of Fame, went 178-87 (.672) in 10 years as the head girls coach at Half Moon Bay High School. The stint included three state tournaments (2017, 2020, 2022), three CCS sectional championships (2017, 2020, 2021), a CCS open division appearance (2022), 10 straight CCS playoff appearances, and the last three Peninsula Athletics League North titles (2020-22). He was the 2020 Prep2Prep CCS Coach of the Year after his team went 25-4. The 178 wins ranked fourth amongst public schools according to MaxPreps.
"We are thrilled to welcome Antonio to Mission College. Antonio has a successful track record of building programs. He has done a phenomenal job at Half Moon Bay HS turning it into one of the top programs in the CCS," said Mission College Athletics Director John Vlahos. "His strong Bay Area ties will be an asset in recruiting as we look to build the program with homegrown talent."
Veoloso takes over for Corey Cafferata who stepped down to due to health reasons after leading the program to nine winning seasons in 12 seasons and a 192-150 record. The Saints reached the post-season seven times and won two Coast titles.
In Peninsula-North League play the Cougars were 86-29 (.747) overall, winning three titles, while finishing third or better in nine out of 10 years. He had winning seasons in nine out of 10 years. The Cougars were members of the postseason CCS Academic Top-five five times (2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022).
Veloso is a 2017 inductee to the Santa Clara Athletics Hall of Fame, having served as an assistant to legendary coach Dick Davey from 1999 to 2003 after being a student manager at SCU.
Veloso was the women's volleyball coach at Menlo College for two seasons (1997-98), as the team had an 11-game turnaround from a 2-20 record to 13-12, for its first winning season in five years. He was also an assistant men's basketball coach during that time, as the team posted a 10-game turnaround.
At the University of Great Falls in Montana, he served as the men's basketball coach and athletics director from 2003 to 2006, going 10-18 in his final year (2005-06), the most wins in six years. He also grew the athletics department from three to 15 sports and fundraised and negotiated facility and scholarship improvements.
Veloso began his coaching career at Mitty High in San Jose as a freshman and assistant varsity boys coach in 1996-97.
Veloso graduated from SCU in 1996 with a Bachelor's in philosophy.
| Year | Overall | Peninsula-North | Finish | Post-Season |
| 2012-13 | 15-12 | 7-5 | 3rd | |
| 2013-14 | 12-15 | 6-6 | 4th | |
| 2014-15 | 20-8 | 9-3 | 2nd | |
| 2015-16 | 18-8 | 8-4 | 3rd | |
| 2016-17 | 23-9 | 9-3 | 2nd | NorCals, CCS Playoffs (Division IV), CCS Sectional title |
| 2017-18 | 20-7 | 10-2 | 2nd | |
| 2018-19 | 14-12 | 8-4 | 3rd | |
| 2019-20 | 25-4 | 11-1 | 1st | Peninsula-North title, NorCals, CCS Playoffs (Division IV), CCS Sectional title |
| 2020-21 | 11-4 | 6-1 | 1st | Peninsula-North title, CCS Playoffs (Division IV), CCS Sectional title |
| 2021-22 | 20-8 | 12-0 | 1st | Peninsula-North title, NorCals, CCS Playoffs (Open Division) |
Previous Coaching Experience
University of Great Falls (MT), 2003-06, Head Men's Basketball Coach (22-67)
Menlo College (CA), 1997-98, Women's Volleyball Head Coach (15-32)
Menlo College (CA), 1997-99, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Santa Clara University, 1999-2003, Assistant Men's Basketball coach
Mitty High School, 1996-97, Freshman and Assistant Boys Varsity Coach