Bio

Ted Iacenda begin his 12th year as head coach at College of the Canyons, and his 16th season overall with the Cougars football program in 2024.

Iacenda took over head coaching responsibilities at COC in 2013, after a seven-year stint as an assistant coach at Bishop Alemany High School.

In his first season with the Cougars, Iacenda led the team to an 8-3 overall record and 5-1 conference mark, while winning the program’s 11th conference title — and first since 2008. The Cougars also earned a berth to the California Community College Athletic Association’s Southern California Regional Playoffs, another first since 2008, before eventually falling to state runner-up Fullerton College.

The 2017 campaign represented another first for Iacenda, as the Cougars posted a 9-3 overall record capped by a 28-16 win over Mt. San Antonio College in the Western State Bowl after narrowly missing out on a bid to the state playoffs. The victory was the program's first Bowl Game win of the Iacenda era.

In 2018, Iacenda led Canyons to a perfect 10-0 regular season to win his second conference title, the 12th in program history, as the Cougars returned to the Southern California Regional Playoffs for the first time since 2013. The perfect regular season mark was just the fifth in school history. The Cougars also finished the regular season as the No. 1 ranked team in both the California Community College Sports Information Association (CCCSIA) statewide poll and the JC Athletic Bureau Head Coaches Poll. At season's end Iacenda was named the conference coach of the year.

In his 11 previous years as head coach (the Cougars did not compete in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) Iacenda has compiled a 71-37 overall record. The Cougars are also 38-17 in conference play during that span. The program has also seen more than 175 student-athletes transfer and continue their playing careers at four-year schools during that span.

While at Alemany, Iacenda served under then-head coach Dean Herrington, helping the Warriors win league titles in six of his seven seasons at the school, as the program posted a combined 62-23 record during a stretch that ran from 2006 to 2012.

Iacenda also served four seasons as a member of the COC football coaching staff working with running backs, wide receivers and special teams units under then-head coach Chuck Lyon. As a member of Lyon’s staff Iacenda helped the Cougars go a combined 48-4 from 2002 to 2005, as the program claimed four Western State Conference titles, two CCCAA Southern California Championships and both a CCCAA State and National Championship in 2004. That National Championship team was inducted into the COC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

Iacenda also coached running backs and wide receivers at Trinity Valley Community College in Texas during the 2001 season.

Prior to joining the coaching ranks Iacenda was a standout football player at Hart High School where he starred as a member of the school’s 1995 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II Championship team. The Indians also finished as CIF runner-up in 1994.

The highly decorated player then attended the University of Southern California and later transferred to the University of New Mexico where he earned his bachelor's degree in university studies in 2000. Iacenda then went on to earn his master's degree in sports management from United States Sports Academy in 2004.

Iacenda and his wife Courtney reside in Castaic with their daughter Ella and son Ty.

— Bio current as of Sept. 2024