Ventura County Girls’ Coach of the Year

Every season, Joe Vaughan of Buena High invites the finest opponents he can find to Ventura for nonleague basketball games. This season it was Peninsula, ranked No. 1 nationally, and Morningside, a perennial Southern Section power. He does this to increase the stature of girls’ basketball in Ventura County. And he has been successful, primarily through the sustained excellence of his own program.

Vaughan’s record in 17 years at Buena is 402-39, including a 25-4 mark this season. The Bulldogs had only one senior among their top nine players this season, yet won the Channel League title and reached the section Division I-A final for the eighth time.