John Marcum begins his seasond season as the head women's basketball coach at California Baptist University. Marcum became the ninth coach in the CBU women’s basketball's 35-year history and fifth since 2003 when he was hired before the start of the 2011 season.

In just his first season at the helm, Marcum led the Lancers to the most successful campaign in program history. CBU finished the year 27-8 and ranked fifth in the NAIA, while qualifying for its first NAIA National Tournament since 1982, reaching the Sweet 16. At one point in the season, they were ranked as high as No. 3, their highest ranking ever.

CBU also went 16-4 in the GSAC, finishing second and winning its first ever conference postseason tournament title beating eventual national champion Azusa Pacific in the finals. The Lancers set a record for postseason wins with four on the year and matched the program record for total wins in a season. They also had two All-Americans--Dana Olsen and V.V. Vasciunaite--for the first time in program history.

Marcum came to Riverside after seven seasons as an assistant coach at NAIA-member Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Okla.

Most recently, the 37-year-old Marcum spent three seasons as the lead assistant coach for the OBU women’s program. During that span, the Bison went 92-14 and were 60-6 in the Sooner Athletic Conference, winning consecutive conference titles in 2009 and 2010. He recruited two NAIA All-Americans, including two-time All-American Taujhnae Travis.

OBU made the NAIA National Tournament in each of his three seasons, reaching the semifinals in 2009. The year before he joined the women’s program, the Bison were just 17-13.

Prior to joining the women’s program in 2007, Marcum spent four seasons (2003-06) as an assistant coach with the OBU men’s team. During that span, the Bison were 116-30 overall, 49-23 SAC, winning two conference titles. The Bison made four straight national tournament appearances, reaching the semifinals in his final season of 2006. He recruited two All-Americans— Jamel Coachman (2004) and Frank Benson (2006).

Marcum played baseball and graduated from Oklahoma Baptist in 1997 with a bachelor’s in secondary education/history. He was a member of OBU’s NAIA World Series team in 1996 and served as the president of OBU's Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter. He earned his master’s in secondary education/physical education in 2003 from East Central University. In 2002, he served as an assistant coach to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the Oklahoma Storm of the United States Basketball League, leading the Storm to the USBL championship.

Marcum and his wife, Carmen, a two-time All-American in basketball at OBU, have three children, Abby (11), Matty (9) and Cooper (6).