Bakersfield, CA - Bakersfield College Athletics is saddened to share the passing of former Renegade Men's Basketball Coach Jeff Hughes.

Jeff was the Head Coach at Bakersfield College from 1998-2002. He finished his tenure with a career record of 73-50, a winning percentage of .593.

He coached as an assistant for Mark Arce at Bakersfield College for multiple seasons. He helped guide the Renegades to the 1998 State Championship where they lost to Compton College.

He later joined Arce at West Hills Coalinga and helped the Falcons to the Elite Eight during 2006-2007 season. Jeff also had stops at Fullerton College, Cerritos College, and Columbia College. He won a State Championship as an assistant to Denny Aye while at Columbia during the 1993 season where they defeated Ventura College, 97-88. He also assisted his younger brother and current BC Head Coach, Rich Hughes during the 2008-2009 season when the Renegades made the playoffs, eventually losing to Chaffey College in the first round. Jeff was also instrumental in the development of two BC Basketball standouts - Brandon Kurtz (Centennial HS), who was inducted into the CCCAA Hall of Fame in 2018 and Shaun Daniels (Highland HS), who played professionally multiple years and even had a stint playing for the Bakersfield Jam.     

Jeff played at the University of Colorado before transferring to Santa Ana College and then finished at Cal State University Bakersfield. He graduated from CSUB with both a B.A and M.A in Special Education.

Former Coaching Colleague Mark Arce on his passing: "Jeff Hughes was one of the most important people in my life both professionally and personally. He was a big part of the success we had at BC. I viewed him as an associate head coach, but most of all he was one of my closest friends. Jeff was with me for my two most successful seasons as a head coach. Our state finals appearance at BC and reaching the state tournament at West Hills College. Jeff had great success as the head coach at Bakersfield College. He not only had one of the highest winning percentages in program history, but most of his players transferred to university's. Jeff was a great leader of young men. We all loved him and will miss him."

Former CSUB  Teammate and Assistant Coach Vance Palm on his passing (and below in the video): "Jeff was an outstanding athlete, a basketball purist, who wasn't keen on excuses but at the same time was compassionate to his players, very respectful of his colleagues and above all, loved his family deeply. His generosity and commitment to his friends was obvious in his actions and deeds. Jeff will be missed by the Palms and we send out our prayers to Patti, Lauren, Allison, Rich and their entire family at this time."

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