By Christopher Pimentel Jr., August 25, 2026
Sabrina White first toured Cal Poly Pomona’s campus when she was 13, during a summer basketball camp where she learned from some of the greatest coaches in CPP women’s basketball history. Coach Darlene May, who led the team to win three championships before she passed away, and coach Paul Thomas, who had taken over after May’s passing and eventually won back-to-back championships in 2001 and 2002. Both coaches’ championship wins accumulate to the five total that the women’s basketball team owns and helped develop White’s big goals and aspirations to be a part of successful and recognizable organizations like the NBA and later the WNBA, once it was officially established in 1996.
Little did she know her life would come full circle and lead back to where her dreams began. As time went on, White was able to work with both the NBA and WNBA, where she then transitioned into a collegiate coach for Cal State University of Los Angeles. Her time as a coach as described by White is more than just pushing the players to be better athletes but developing a bond as she learned from her time at camp. Now she will spend her time as a new assistant coach for the Bronco’s women’s basketball team where she looks forward to bond with her new family over the course of the season.
“Walking into the women’s locker room and seeing Darlene May’s picture, seeing coach Paul Thomas’ picture, seeing my friends up there and just walking around the campus, it made me feel like I was 13,” White said. “After walking through the locker room, I am engulfed in the history of this program.” CPP Athletics announced White was hired as an assistant women’s basketball coach for the 2025-26 season Aug. 10. White said she feels blessed the post gained more than 200 likes and comments in under two hours, because it shows she is not only welcomed but also feels like she is receiving a warm hug after being away from your family for a while.
Before her time as an assistant coach at the collegiate level, White worked with the NBA by participating in the Assistant Coach Development program in 2024 and coaching young talent at the G League Ignite Elite Camp and the NBA Draft Combine. She also worked with the Los Angeles Sparks during their historic run to win a chip in 2016, which involved the best start to an WNBA season, Nneke Ogwumike winning MVP and ending a 14-year drought, as an original founding ambassador for the #WeAreWomen campaign, which looks to honor stand out women, young girls and community leaders in Southern California.
White mentioned how some people might look at the previous season that the Bronco’s had and feel pressure to either reciprocate or improve the level of success the team had. Although White believes that this ‘pressure’ is just some background noise on their journey to the real goal, a national championship.
“For us maintaining that success is very important in a lot of aspects,” head coach Danielle Bishop said. “So, when you are talking to someone and interviewing them, you are looking to see if their vision for the team aligns with what you are doing, and that was Sabrina during her interview.”
While White was with CSULA last year, the Golden Eagles were the team to knock CPP out in the CCAA tournament final. Although the Broncos lose the game 78-62, it had little to no effect on their chances to win the national title as the win just meant that Golden Eagles were guaranteed a spot on the bracket. For the Broncos this did not matter as they finished the season as the three seed in their division and went all the way to the quarterfinals in the 32-team bracket where CSULA were first round exits.
Aside from the shared win-now mentality, the new hiring brought relief to Bishop and assistant coach Cassandra Lacey’s workload as another assistant coach provides stability. This occurs after previous assistant coach Lorenzo Griffin left the team Nov. 18, 2025, to join University of California, Riverside, just four days before the season’s home opener, according to Lacey. The sudden disappearance of a Griffin meant that the staff was shorthanded and had to rely on two volunteer assistant coaches last year, Breanne Ha and Dynnah Buckner, according to the roster from last year.
“I was thrown in the fire and had to learn a lot quickly, and obviously I don’t want anyone else to go through that,” Lacey said. “She has been at Cal State LA for the past five years, so she is very familiarized with the Cal State system and how we do certain things.”
White was also familiar with the area since she attended Mt. San Antonio College and has family in the area. She said leaving any team is hard because she was leaving a family, but receiving all the positive reactions from her friends and family made her feel like the “hometown kid coming home,” according to White.
White said CPP is able to succeed because the Broncos successfully married two sides of basketball, the analytics as well as what it feels like to be a player. Once the season starts and White officially meets the players she intends to hand over the keys for the players so they can stay loose and have fun, although she mentioned that she is going to pressure the athletes to remain focused on the fundamentals and principles of the game. She understands the importance of giving the players the keys and let loose and have fun while maintaining the fundamentals and principles of the game.
When White was 13, she went to the Darlene May Basketball camp, now known as the Women’s Basketball Elite Camp, as a prospect of the game with aspirations to grow as an athlete, according to White. As time went on and after the death of May her brain snapped and she not only realized how lucky she was to learn under the wing of a great coach but also recognize the personal connection she had with May during her summer at CPP. As the school year gets underway and the athletes return to campus, White plans on recreating the intimate relationship she had with May with her future family.
“I can’t wait to meet them as young women, to help them grow as leaders in the world,” White said. “Forget about the basketball piece. They are here to get an education, and how can we take the work ethic on the court and turn it into their own growth and leadership in the world and eventually into my daughters.”
White described sports as a way people are brought together, not just to watch the sport with others but as a way where people can enjoy it together and feel close to one another like they have known them their whole life.
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics
