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Jim Parks - Executive Head Coach, 6th Grade Head Coach
In his Senior year at Los Angeles State College, Jim Parks had the privilege of playing for Bill Sharman. Sharman was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1976 and as a coach in 2004. After completing his career as a seven time all-NBA performer for the Boston Celtics, Sharman turned to coaching. He is the only coach to win championships in three professional leagues: the ABL in 1962, the ABA in 1971 and the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in 1972. It was as a coach that Sharman inspired Jim Parks to choose basketball as his profession.
After completing ten years of coaching at the high school and community college levels, which included a California Community College Division II State Championship and a California State Coach of the Year award, Jim accepted a position as Head Coach in the European Professional League in the Netherlands. After being selected as Dutch National Coach of the Year, Jim moved on to lead UBSC Wien to the Austrian National Championship. His team qualified for the European Cup Championships and played against the national champions from England, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Yugoslavia.
For the next several years, Parks began scouring the NBA summer pro leagues for players and coaches. He secured jobs for scores of players and a half a dozen coaches in the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Germany.
In 1980, Parks returned to college coaching where he won three more California State basketball championships at Barstow and Shasta Community colleges. In 1981, Barstow College named the college gym in his honor. In addition to California State Coach of the Year awards, he was also named National Junior College Coach of the Year in 1983. After a four year stint as Head Basketball Coach at California State University, Bakersfield, Parks returned to the European professional leagues as a Head Coach and consultant in Belgium and Germany. Jim also coached in Panama and Brazil with Athletes in Action and has directed clinics and camps in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Mexico.
In 2004, Jim Parks began working with a group of businessmen as Director of Basketball Operations for an American Basketball Association team to be located in Visalia, California. Eventually, the group was able to obtain a National Basketball Association Development League team for the city of Bakersfield called the Bakersfield Jam. The team is affiliated with the Orlando Magic and the Golden State Warriors of the NBA.
Jim Parks recently co-founded the West Coast Pro Basketball League (WCBL) and currently coaches girls, youth basketball for the National Junior Basketball League, Bakersfield Chapter. He also serves on the Board of Directors and is the Executive Head Coach for the Bakersfield Heat, Kern County's Premier Girls AAU Basketball Club.
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Shawn Pennel - 7th Grade Head Coach
Shawn Pennel is a Bakersfield native and has been involved locally in basketball for the last 20 years. His basketball career began at the age of 12, and he has been coaching and playing ever since. Shawn had a successful 4 years of high school basketball at Foothill High and Shafter High. During his two years at Foothill, he had the privilege of instruction from well-known coaches David Reece and 1988 California Division II State Championship coach Dan Shannon. Shawn's family moved to Shafter for his final two years of high school, where he and the Generals experienced great success for a small school. During his senior season, under the leadership and coaching of Ron Lauria, Shawn’s team won the SSL Championship and entered the Valley Playoffs as the first seed.
After his success as a player, Shawn turned his focus to coaching. Wanting to ensure proper coaching and solid fundamentals for his young children, he was inspired to volunteer as a coach in Bakersfield's North of the River youth league. For the next few years, he coached his daughter's and son’s NOR teams. His children have since decided to pursue other interests, yet Shawn realized that coaching was a passion of his and something that he wanted to keep pursuing.
Aware of his prior head coaching experience and success as a player, Norris School District approached Shawn with the opportunity to coach one of the girls open basketball teams. He jumped at the opportunity to lengthen his coaching career. Shawn is the current head coach of the Norris Middle School 8th grade girls team who are currently in 1st place in their league and anxiously awaiting the Kern County Tournament at the end of the season.
His success as a junior high coach and excellent rapport with the players snatched the attention of the Bakersfield Heat organization. After scouting Shawn, his team, his practices, and his games, he was enthusiastically offered the position of 7th grade Bakersfield Heat Head Coach. He has expressed great excitement about working with some new talent, coaching for a girls AAU basketball club, and working along side a veteran coach such as Jim Parks.
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Hernan Santiago - High School Head Coach
--- Coach's bio currently under construction ---
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