Eric Olen


Eric Olen is an American college basketball coach who is the current head men's basketball coach at the University of New Mexico. He was previously the head coach at UC San Diego from 2013 to 2025.

Playing career

Olen grew up in Mobile, Alabama and prepped at McGill–Toolen Catholic High School. Olen went on to play collegiately at Spring Hill College, where he was part of three straight NAIA national tournament appearances for the Badgers, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2000.

Coaching career

Olen joined his former college coach Bill Carr as an assistant at UC San Diego in 2004, and stayed in the role until 2013 before being promoted to head coach after then head coach Chris Carlson left for an administrative role with the West Coast Conference. Olen has since led the Tritons to three CCAA regular season titles and four consecutive conference tournament titles in addition to four NCAA Division II tournament appearances. He guided the Tritons men's basketball program into its status in NCAA Division I as members of the Big West Conference beginning in 2020-21.

Head coaching record

* Due to the 2020–21 season being the first year of transitioning to DI, games in the Big West did not count towards the Tritons' standings and conference record.