Russell White was named the men's basketball coach in July 2019. The 13th head coach in program history is a 1994 graduate and competed with the basketball and golf teams while attending CLU. In 1995, White got his teaching credential from Cal Lutheran. Before coming home to Cal Lutheran, Coach White was the head coach at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino for 13 seasons. During his tenure, the Celts went to the playoffs 12 times, including seven CIF semi-final appearances, seven state championship appearances, two CIF Southern Section titles, and two state titles. The Celts accumulated more than 22 wins per year. Coach White has coached several players that went on to play professionally: Drew Housman (Calabasas/Harvard/Israel), Jerramy King (Crespi/Long Beach/Philippines), London Perrantes (Crespi/Virginia/NBA G-League/Greece), DJ Ursery (Crespi/Pacific/Chile), Max Heidegger (Crespi/UCSB/Windy City Bulls), De’Anthony Melton (Crespi/USC/Golden State Warriors), Brandon Williams (Crespi/Arizona/Dallas Mavericks), Patrick Renane (Cal Lutheran/Spain), and Lojong Ladu (Cal Lutheran/Sweden).