Trakh Lands His Dream Job at USC

USC hired Mark Trakh as its women’s basketball coach Wednesday, giving him the job seven years after being passed over for the same position.

Trakh spent those seven seasons, the last of 11 overall at Pepperdine, turning the Waves into a West Coast Conference powerhouse.

“I concentrated on the process of winning,” he said.

Trakh, 48, called his hiring Wednesday at USC “a dream come true.” He replaces Chris Gobrecht, who was fired last month with one year remaining on her contract. Gobrecht, a former USC player, was hired instead of Trakh seven years ago but had only three winning seasons and did not get the team into the NCAA tournament.

“Mark is someone who had been on our radar for many, many years,” said Daryl Gross, USC senior associate athletic director.

Trakh had a 199-123 record at Pepperdine with conference championships in four of the last six seasons and NCAA tournament appearances in 2000, ’02 and ’03. He was WCC coach of the year in 1999 and 2002.

He also was a successful high school coach at Brea Olinda, winning four state championships and six Southern Section titles between 1981 and 1993.

But he said it was his tenure at Pepperdine that prepared him to coach at USC.

“I learned a lot about the college game,” he said. “I learned a lot about teaching methods and getting them physically and emotionally ready to play. At the high school level, you’re only coaching four or five games a year because the talent is so good. At this level, it’s totally different. The last 11 years I’ve learned a lot. You keep learning and learning. It was a great experience.”

With Cheryl Miller leading the way, USC won NCAA championships in 1983 and ’84.

USC was 93-108 during Gobrecht’s seven seasons and although the team made the Women’s National Invitation Tournament twice, it hadn’t played in the NCAA tournament since 1997. Gobrecht’s teams never won more than 16 games in a season.

USC was 15-13 this season and lost to Washington in the opening round of the Pacific 10 tournament.

“The key is keeping local kids home,” Trakh said when asked about his plans for returning USC to national prominence. “It’s as simple as that.”