He is just 29 years old and though he didn’t always know it, Justin Leslie has been preparing for this moment for the past 19 years.
In a move that was anticipated and yet surprising by its suddenness, Leslie was named the fifth head coach of Azusa Pacific men’s basketball on April 12, 2007, replacing veteran head coach Bill Odell, who retired as college basketball’s winningest coach over the past 16 years. Leslie, who played 5 seasons for Odell, and then served as his lead assistant the past 5 years, is well-prepared to take over one of the crown jewels of small-college basketball, and well-versed in the history and tradition of Cougar basketball.
In fact, other than Odell, no individual has played a more significant role in Azusa Pacific’s emergence and continuing presence as a national power than Leslie. Of Azusa Pacific’s 454 wins during the Odell tenure, Leslie was on hand as either a player or assistant coach for 302 of them.
Leslie was first introduced to Cougar basketball in 1988 when as a 10-year old he participated in NAIA Hall-of-Famer Cliff Hamlow’s basketball camp. Through the rest of his childhood he continually attended Cougar basketball games with his grandfather, not realizing that some day he would become the curator of this national powerhouse.
Leslie is smart, articulate, passionate and appropriately confident. As a coach – and as a man – he ahead of his years, so when Odell made a retirement announcement that most figured was still a couple of years away, there was no hesitation to hand the reigns to Leslie. He was more than ready, and he had already proved so when last year he led Azusa Pacific to a 93-77 victory at Vanguard University while serving in Odell’s stead, who for the first time in his 39-year coaching career missed an assignment because of the flu. Under Leslie’s direction, the Cougars, however, did not miss a beat.
Expectations are of a similar outcome as Leslie takes over the program for the long haul. He inherits just 6 returnees, all of them reserves, from last year’s 29-7 team that advanced to the quarterfinals of the NAIA national tournament, and yet out of the gate he fashioned a rather impressive recruiting class for the 2008 campaign, securing several newcomers who were courted by numerous other schools but whom Leslie persuaded to become a Cougar.
The 6-foot-8 Leslie was a center for some of the finest teams in Azusa Pacific history, playing for the Cougars from 1996 to 2001. He is 1 of just 5 players in Golden State Athletic Conference history to play on 4 conference championship teams (the other 4 were also Cougars). In fact, he actually played on 5 GSAC title teams, briefly playing for the 2000 championship squad before being granted a medical hardship because of an injury.
During his 132-game Cougar career, Leslie averaged 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds and in the process set the school season (88) and career (168) records for blocked shots . As a 2001 senior, he averaged 12.4 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds while leading Azusa Pacific to a program-best 35-3 record. He was a key reserve on the Cougars’ 1998 squad that advanced to the NAIA semifinals and then started all 35 games in 1999 when Azusa Pacific returned to the semis. Statistically, his finest outing as a Cougar came in the aforementioned abbreviated 2000 campaign when he scored a career-high 28 points on 12-for-16 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds and 3 assists in 33 minutes of play against Cal Poly Pomona. However, he offered a more significant contribution during his 1999 junior season when he tallied 23 points, including 13 in the second half, to go along with 3 blocked shots, leading Azusa Pacific back from 9 down in the second half to a 69-61 victory over arch-rival Biola and clinch the Cougars’ seventh straight GSAC title. All told as a player, Leslie was a key member of a Cougar program that went 127-22 (.852) during his playing career.
Leslie prepped at Perris (Calif.) High where he played 3 seasons of varsity basketball for longtime head coach Elzie Landers. He was a 2-time All-Sunbelt League and All-Riverside County selection. As a 1996 senior he also garnered All-Inland Empire recognition while leading the Panthers to a 24-5 record and the Sunbelt League title.
An outstanding student, Leslie graduated from Azusa Pacific magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2000. He then garnered an MBA from Azusa Pacific during his final season of play for the Cougars. He joined Odell’s staff as an assistant coach for the 2001-02 season and then spent the next year working for David Taussig & Associateds, In.c, a public finance consulting company based in Newport Beach. He returned to coaching and the Cougar staff in the fall of 2003.
Justin and his wife, Joy, also an Azusa Pacific alum, live in San Dimas, Calif., with their 2 daughters, Jill (5) and Jenna (2).
