Melissa Sanchez enters her fifth season with the Cal Lutheran women's basketball program in 2026-27 and her first as Associate Head Coach.
Sanchez originally joined the Regals as an assistant coach in the summer of 2021 and spent three seasons helping elevate the program before serving as the video coordinator at the United States Air Force Academy during the 2024-25 season. She returned to Cal Lutheran ahead of the 2025-26 campaign and was promoted to Associate Head Coach following the season.
Across her four seasons on the Regals' coaching staff, Sanchez has helped guide Cal Lutheran through one of the most successful stretches in program history. After a 7-16 campaign in her first season, the Regals improved to 15-10 in 2022-23 before capturing the 2023-24 SCIAC regular season championship with a 19-7 overall record. Following her return in 2025-26, Cal Lutheran finished 22-5 overall and 13-3 in SCIAC play, claimed another SCIAC regular season title, advanced to the SCIAC Tournament Championship game and earned national recognition in both the WBCA and D3hoops.com polls. The Regals also led the SCIAC in scoring defense and rebounding during the 2025-26 season.
Throughout her time at Cal Lutheran, Sanchez has served as the program's lead recruiter, helped develop player workout programs, managed team travel logistics and overseen the team's social media presence.
Prior to joining the collegiate ranks, Sanchez spent nine seasons coaching at the high school level, including three years as head coach at Pasadena High School.
As the head coach at Pasadena, Sanchez quickly revitalized the program. In her first season (2018-19), she led the Bulldogs to the second round of the CIF Division I playoffs. The following year, Pasadena captured its first Pacific League championship in 14 years, advanced to the CIF quarterfinals, and Sanchez was named the San Gabriel Valley Coach of the Year. She followed with another Pacific League championship in 2020-21, leading the Bulldogs to an undefeated league record and another second-round playoff appearance. During her tenure, she coached and graduated three All-Area players, with numerous student-athletes continuing their careers at the collegiate level across NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III and junior college programs.
Before taking over at Pasadena, Sanchez spent four seasons as a varsity assistant and junior varsity head coach at Burbank High School and two seasons in the same role at La Salle High School. In 2017-18, La Salle captured the Santa Fe League championship with an undefeated league record.
Sanchez and her husband, Austin, have one daughter, Kaiya.
