It’s been said that behind every good head coach is a good assistant. So it should come as little surprise that behind a great head coach like Renee Jimenez is a great assistant like Tina Samaniego.
Samaniego has played an integral role in turning the Otter women’s basketball program from a conference also–ran to a conference champion in just three seasons. CSUMB won just three games the season before her arrival and immediately turned in an 11–win season in 2008–09. That success proved to be no fluke as the Otters posted their best record to date (18–9) and their first CCAA Tournament appearance in 2009–10.
The hits kept on coming in a 2010–11 season that brought the Otters 27 wins, an national ranking as high as No. 19, their first CCAA regular season title and their first NCAA Tournament bid. A 68–59 victory over No. 13 Dixie State got the Otters to the semifinals, where their remarkable run ended. CSUMB’s first NCAA Statistical Championship capped the historic season. The Otters allowed just 51.2 points per game to win the scoring defense title.
The Otters added yet another postseason banner in 2012, battling through an injury-plagued season to finish second in the CCAA en route to winning their first CCAA Championship Tournament title.
Prior to joining the Otter staff in July of 2008, Samaniego served as an assistant coach at Pepperdine University for two seasons where she was video and film exchange coordinator in addition to working with the guards, scouting and recruiting. She returned to Pepperdine in 2006 after spending her 1999-00 season as a player on the first Pepperdine women's basketball team to make it to the NCAA post-season.
Samaniego started her coaching career as an assistant coach at San Francisco's Sacred Heart Prep where she spent two seasons. She helped lead the team to the 2004 CIF Division III State Championship Game. After reaching the 2005 CIF Northern California Division III title game she moved on to serve as an assistant coach at Menlo College for one season. Prior to joining the staff at Pepperdine, Samaniego served as a staff intern for the women's basketball program at Stanford University, under Coach Tara VanDerveer.
The Oxnard, Calif., native played for one season for Pepperdine after walking on as a freshman. She then went on to Ventura College where she served as team captain, earning All–Western State Conference honors while helping the Pirates to the 2001 California State Championship.
Samaniego is a 2003 graduate of University of San Francisco with a bachelor's in exercise science with a minor in business administration. She received her master's in kinesiology from San Jose State in 2006.
