Tri-Valley Coaching Legend Mark Anger Beats Cancer

View the Article at The Independent

Livermore, Calif. - Mark Anger was excited to share the news: The longtime Chabot College women's basketball coach recently had a PET scan and learned that he is cancer-free.

The milestone comes after undergoing seven months of aggressive chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"I'm feeling pretty lucky," said Anger, who lives in Livermore with his wife, Sarah.

The highly successful coach officially retired from Chabot on June 30 after being on sick leave since December.

Anger, 70, has many fond memories of helping dedicated young women drive toward their goals at Chabot over the past 15 years. He is a Chabot Gladiator at heart.

"I love Chabot. I love working there, I love being around the school. It's been a great run and I will certainly miss being around there every day," Anger said of the Hayward school in the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District.

Anger, who also coached at Deer Valley and Miramonte high schools, along with Holy Names College, compiled a 242-140 career record at Chabot after being hired in 2011. His tenure was highlighted by a state championship in 2015, the first in women's basketball at Chabot. He earned two conference championships, in 2014-15 and 2019-20, and made the playoffs every season.

The Gladiators also advanced to the state quarterfinals, or Elite 8, in 2019-20, and the 'Sweet 16', in 2017-18. Granada High School graduate Lex Pletschette, a Livermore standout, starred on Anger's 2024-25 team and now competes for NCAA Division I University of Denver.

In Chabot's 2025-26 season, during Anger's chemotherapy at the Kaiser Permanente Cancer Center in Dublin, he sat out the season but stayed in contact with new head coach Zakiya Mahoney, a former star player for Anger.

It was quite an ordeal for him off the court, suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma, a disease in which cancer cells form in the lymphatic system.

"They did a really aggressive chemotherapy, very aggressive," Anger said, referencing the use of the drug Adriamycin. "I had that for seven months, basically. It kicks your butt."

When asked what gave him the most satisfaction as a coach, Anger pointed to consistency and student-athlete success.

"The fact that we made the playoffs every single year is one," he said, "winning a state championship in my fourth year there, developing all the kids who have gone on. I really enjoy the kids from Chabot, and I'm definitely going to miss them. I enjoyed seeing them every day. We have a lot of really good kids who helped and performed and got an education and got scholarships that helped pay for their education. I think that's really the most rewarding thing."

Back in 2015, Anger's team stunned previously unbeaten Mt. San Antonio College, 63-58, in the state championship game in Norwalk. Morgan Green, a freshman sensation point guard, led the way with 26 points and was named State tournament MVP. Fellow Chabot stars Michelle Townsend and Alana Simon also made the All-State Tournament team.

Green led the conference in minutes, points, assists, and steals, and was named Chabot Female Athlete of the Year. Anger's team was recognized by the district board, receiving framed Awards of Excellence, medallions and letters of recommendation.

The team's run seemed worthy of a Hollywood script.

"We had seven players at that point in the year, but we had the right seven, as I tell people," Anger recalled of the state tournament. "We had Morgan Green who's playing elite level in Europe still. She was an incredible player, went on to Michigan State and UC Irvine. Alana Simon went on to Oklahoma State, and Michelle Townsend hit 98 threes that year including the one that won the state championship. She ended up at Chico State.

"Those three were all inducted into the Hall of Fame at Chabot two or three years ago. It was a great team," he continued.

Anger was the founder and longtime director of the powerful East Bay Xplosion (EBX) AAU club. In 2002, Alexis Gray-Lawson, a future Cal Berkeley star and WNBA player, and the heralded Paris twins, Ashley and Courtney, led EBX to the Under-14 national championship. His AAU teams were consistently among the best in the country.

Anger's extensive connections helped him recruit top players for Chabot.

"You have to get the best players you can get. I had a very successful club, and I was lucky to be pretty well-connected, so I was able to get good players," Anger said. "… You try and maximize their talents."

Napa Valley College women's basketball coach Paul DeBolt, who coached for 30 years at Contra Costa College (San Pablo), has had a close relationship with Anger over the past 25 years. The two are about the same age and well respected in the region.

"Mark does not have a big ego; he's really about kids. He's matter-of-fact, I love that about him," DeBolt said. "He just knows basketball. He knows how to coach. He knows how to evaluate talent. He can look at a group of kids and go, 'OK, we're going to do this or we're going do this.' He's ready-made for the JUCO (junior college) level."

It all came together during the glorious Chabot run in 2014-15, to complete a 31-3 season.

"He was masterful," DeBolt said. "It's where his experience coaching high-level players in AAU really paid off. He just did a great job with them. A lot of coaches wouldn't have been able to get through that year and kept everything together with seven kids, but he did things like … he played a two-three zone the whole year. Never pressed....He wins the whole thing. I was front and center in that tournament, and it was fun to watch."

Anger gives high praise to college administrators for giving him a chance to shine.

"I want to thank (athletic director) Jeff Drouin and (former Chabot Vice President) Dale Wagoner; they gave me an opportunity. It fit for both of us," Anger said. "They needed a coach, and I really needed a change of scenery from the club basketball situation, and I think it worked out real well."

He has coached numerous top players at Chabot, and is known for helping them move on to four-year programs.

Some of his former stars include Mahoney; De'Zire Hall; Foothill High School graduate Savannah Montini of Pleasanton; Tylore Bell, an attorney in Washington; Cal High graduate Kelly Tumlin of San Ramon, now at Cal State Northridge; Olivia Vezaldenos, who works for the Golden State Warriors; and Alana Simon.

For Anger, it's mission accomplished. Now it's on to the next chapter.

(Matt Schwab, The Independent)