San Diego City College Athletic Director Aaron Detty has worked with Charlens for the past 20 years. He started at City College as a part-timer setting up equipment at the gym.

He has now been the athletic director for the past six years working closely with the basketball program. 

“What Mitch has done to create this family network where people don’t feel like it was just a stop in life, it literally becomes part of (their) life,” Detty said. “He’s teaching them more than basketball. He’s teaching them how to live, how to treat others, how to persevere.”

Cassie Macias is the former City College athletic director who hired Mitch Charlens back in 2004, starting the  many milestones for the basketball program over 21 years. 

The two faced many challenges together, like not having a gym facility for games and practices. Despite it all, advancing the program and helping athletes was always their main priority.  

“I’m not surprised (he’s) been so successful, and, you know, I’m just proud of (him). I’m glad I made the right choice for City College,” Macias said. “He’s made everyone there very happy and very proud of what he’s done with the program. Go make history.”

With nearly 12 years of coaching experience across multiple basketball programs around the country, coach Steven Aldridge has elevated every team he joins. 

He now serves as the assistant men’s basketball coach for UCSD, a program he helped lead to their first Division I NCAA Tournament appearance last year. 

He attributed much of who he is now to not only being Charlens’ starting point guard from 2009-11, but also being an assistant coach under him in 2013. 

“I think him being hard on me as a player and even as a coach at times, and making sure that I never took it personal, right?” Aldridge said. “It was something that has always stuck with me.”

San Diego City College women’s basketball head coach Andrea Aguilar-Montalban has been working closely with Charlens for the past 13 years. 

She has learned a lot from Charlens over that time about what is important for their athletes and their futures, creating a safe space on campus. 

“It’s more than just winning. We want to make sure that they move on. He’s big into making sure that these kids are getting more than just an education. We’re trying to teach them life skills,” Aguilar-Montalban said. “We’re trying to be there for them and more than just a coach. And that’s what he does, so I love that about him.”

Former City College basketball star returns to work with the next generation

The point guard of the state championship team in 2017, Darien McClain returned to City as player development coach after reaching out to Charlens for a volunteer opportunity. 

During an uncertain time in his career, he was able to rely on City College and Charlens to help navigate through life and believe in himself. 

Now being a full-time trainer and creating his own company Daily Moves, lots of his techniques as a coach, McClain said, come from Charlens. 

“Coach, thank you for allowing me to figure out who I am without telling me who I am. You always allow me to put the pieces together, even when sometimes you know where pieces belong, you still let me find out where they go, and you just support me and guide me through those situations,” McClain said. “So thank you for everything you’ve done and keep inspiring these boys.”

Hall of Famer Rusty Smith has dedicated nearly 50 years to the game of basketball, with a career that includes playing at the collegiate level, seven years playing professionally in Germany, 18 seasons as head coach, and five years as assistant coach under Charlens. 

His career culminated in his induction into the Class of 2021 of the CCMBCA Hall of Fame. 

Smith first met Charlens when he was recruiting a player from Lowell High School in San Francisco, where Charlens was assistant coach. 

Years later they met again at College of Sequoias, when Smith was head coach and Charlens was recommended to be his assistant.

In 2022, the chance for Smith to return to the court as assistant coach alongside Charlens arose, and Smith was back.

“(Charlens) says, once a Knight, always a Knight. It’s not like, you’re coming in the program two years and we’re going to forget about you,” Smith said. “There’s a real family type of atmosphere that he has really cultivated, and he is very concerned about maintaining the culture of the program in terms of playing basketball.”

San Diego City College President Ricky Shabazz started his tenure in the summer of 2017, just after the program won the state championship. 

Before stepping into his role as president, Shabazz congratulated Charlens and the team on their new state championship title. 

Now he continues to show his unconditional support for the different sports programs at City College and highlights their increasing transfer rates. 

“When we look at our basketball players and other student-athletes, they transfer at a much higher level,” Shabazz said. “Four hundred wins is big, but when you look at the number of students he has helped transfer, it exceeds that number.”

Erin Charlens met her now husband in 1996 where they both attended San Francisco State. 

They have continued to show up for each other after 30 years of marriage and three kids later.

Charlens is coordinator of the Transfer Center at City College and has worked closely with many of the athletes on campus, including on the men’s basketball team. 

“I remember the year after the state title, we went back to the state championship. We lost but it was a moment where basketball was more than a game. I have this beautiful picture of them,” Charlens said. “They’re locked, their arms are all around each other, the evidence of the actual team and community. So I have little glimpses of the families that he has been able to develop and foster — the Knights family.”

Gus Celarie is the sports information director at City College. With Celarie starting in 2004, around the time when Charlens became head coach, he has watched him develop the program over the years. 

Celarie recognized that being a part of the Knights has positively impacted many of the players who have now left their legacy on campus and continued their life-long connections. 

“He’s always supportive of everyone working around him and his players, of course, especially his players,” Celarie said. “Academically, his players are always doing well in school and getting scholarships at the next level, so he’s got a lot of good characteristics.”

Head coach of men’s basketball at City College of San Francisco, Justin Labagh said he has loved competing against Charlens over the years. 

Labagh came to San Diego for a weightlifting competition when he was in high school. Competing in this tournament, where he won first place, was where he met Charlens, who placed second in the tournament.

This was the beginning of a rivalry. 

“Mitch, congrats on getting 400. I remember my late 20s. On a serious note, you know I love competing against you,”  Labagh said. “I love seeing you come up here with a full head of hair, losing, and then shaving your head on the way out. I miss those days. I hope to see you soon.”

Athletic Administrative Technician and Athlete Eligibility Coordinator Irene Mello shared with tears in her eyes the impact Charlens has made on her life over the 21 years of working together. 

Going through personal challenges herself, she shared that Charlens was always there for support when she needed someone to fall back on. 

“You think he’s gonna do something small but then to actually go beyond. I used to look at his mom every time she’d come to the games and I’d be like, ‘you raised an amazing son,’ and should just smile,” Mello said. “He’s not a co-worker. He’s my friend.”

Dexter Stratton, formerly a student-athlete at City College, is currently a student at Cal State San Marcos, pursuing his bachelor’s degree in finance.

When attending City College, Stratton played center for the basketball team during the 2023-24 season and described how Charlens helped him navigate through some of the toughest parts of his life. 

“I could go to him about anything. If you bring something up to him, he will talk to you about literally anything in life. So if it’s about dating advice, a hardship, a battle or challenge, he’ll give you his best, real advice,” Stratton said. “I think he’s one of those guys that ‘s been in a lot of different situations and he’s kind of went through his own trials and tribulations. Anything that you go to him for, he will speak with you.”

Twenty years as head athletic trainer for City College and CCCATA Hall of Famer, Lori Ray originally studied at San Diego State as an engineering major. She graduated in 1994 and got her certification to be an athletic trainer in 1996.

She started her tenure at City College on top of working at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, which allowed her to travel with Olympic teams as far as Canada and Europe.

She accepted her full-time job at City College in 2000, with Charlens coming in as head coach in 2004. Ray described him as a breath of fresh air when he became part of the Harry West Gym renovations. 

“I have the utmost respect for Mitch. He helped me through some really tough times during my career, and I’m not sure he’s even aware of that,” Ray said. “I’m proud of you. I miss you, and I wish nothing but success this year.”

At 26 years old, Perry Webster was appointed as the head coach of Fullerton College’s basketball team in 2015, becoming the second youngest ever to lead the program. 

He is one of the few coaches in California Community College history who has won the state championship as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach. 

Despite being rivals with Charlens and the Knights, Webster has the utmost respect and admiration for them.

“I honestly think Mitch is one of the greatest communicators I’ve ever met. He really has an ability to make you laugh, to be serious, to demand yet be loving. They seem like they have real relationships with their players and real bonds with those guys,” Webster said. “They really seem to gravitate and love Mitch and spend time with Mitch and his family and his wife.”

Steve Ball served as assistant coach under Charlens while helping the Knights win a conference championship in 2005. 

The journey to the title was not easy, and Ball remembered the challenges he and Charlens faced together that year. 

“There wasn’t a day in practice that wasn’t a challenge for us, physically, mentally, that prepared us to win a conference championship, with a whole group of guys who had literally no idea who each other were,” Ball said. “A great coach like Coach Charles can find the personality and the heartbeat of that group and deliver a different message based on where that group is.”

Steven Dreifuss is a Carlsbad native who played guard for City College’s basketball team from 2014-17 and was part of the championship team that Charlens led in 2017.

He said he was able to grow stronger as an individual through what he learned being part of the program under Charlens.

Dreifuss now serves as the general manager for the restaurant Fleurette and continues to use many of the skills he learned from Charlens, surrounding himself with people who want to succeed. 

“He kept pushing (me) because he knew that there was potential there, and he stayed on me every day,”‘ Dreifuss said. “So that was the thing that helped me was he didn’t just have me there, but he coached me every single day. Coach has a big front, but he’s also a big softy. He loves his guys, he loves his team.”

Trever English works as a Strategic Events Consultant at Boeing, and has been there for about five years.

English was a guard for the City College basketball team during the 2012-13 season and has used so much of the leadership he learned from Charlens in how he works in the corporate world.

“One thing that Coach Mitch has taught me is, in being a leader, you gotta put the work in too. I’m sure he’s one of the very few coaches that is in the gym with his players. He was showing us that if I’m asking you to do it, I’m going to do it too,” English said. “That’s something that you very rarely see as a coach and very rarely see as a leader in the corporate world. That’s one thing I really took away from that, is there are no shortcuts in life. You got to do the work. You got to do it day in and day out. Otherwise, you know, you won’t be able to separate yourself from everybody else.”

Andy Meunier is from the Bay Area and played center for City College from 2010-12. 

In addition to racking up rebounds and blocks for Charlens, he took the lessons of hard work and integrity that he learned and applied them to his current role as a licensed real estate agent for Coldwell Banker Realty. 

“We can only play basketball for so long, and then we have to apply what we’ve learned into careers and build a life for our families,” Meunier said. “That’s one thing I really took away from that, is there are no shortcuts in life. You got to do the work. You got to do it day in and day out.”

Rick Croy serves as California Baptist University’s head men’s basketball coach, and has known Charlens since their days as students and teammates at San Francisco State. 

Having been born in San Diego and grown up in a basketball family, Croy said he appreciates one among the many qualities of Charlens. 

“His leadership – Mitch can relate to everybody,” Croy said. “He has this real humility about him. He can laugh at himself while still being a really intense competitor.”

Bobby Andreasen has known Charlens since their time as teammates at San Francisco State. He later became a professor of health and exercise science at City College and served as Charlens’ assistant head coach, helping lead the Knights to the Elite Eight in 2009. 

Over the years the pair have become best friends, watching each group of athletes become a family and create relationships that will last a lifetime. 

“It wasn’t just about making him look good, it was getting (the athletes) to their next destination. That’s why, in 2017 when they won the state championship, I was in the stands,” Andreasen said. “Other coaches and former players were in the stands because that win wasn’t just about the 2017 team. It was about every Knight that’s been through this program.”