Bio

Carlton Fortenberry returns for his second season (2024-25) as head coach for Gavilan College after recently serving as an assistant on the San Jose City College Men’s basketball team. During that time, San Jose City won the Coast South conference championship, made the CCCAA State Championship Tournament and was ranked as high as #3 in the state coaching rankings.

His coaching experience includes serving as Head Coach of the Freshman boys basketball team at Poway High School and one year as a graduate assistant for the Long Beach State Men’s basketball where he worked under legendary coaches Don Monson and Bobby Braswell. In 2020, he earned his Master's Degree in Sport & Exercise Psychology from Long Beach State.

Prior to Long Beach, Carlton attended UC Davis, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. During his time there he helped create the UC Davis Women's Basketball Club to provide women of the university an opportunity to play competitive basketball. Over seven years the team grew from a self-sufficient student organization to an official sport club funded by the university.

After graduating from Santa Monica High School in 2006, Carlton spent five years in The United States Navy where he served as a hospital corpsman.

"I would like to thank Athletic Director Jamie Adams and President Dr. Pedro Avila for the opportunity to join Gavilan College as Head Coach of Women’s Basketball. I am also thankful to the former players and coaches that have dedicated their time to grow women’s basketball at Gavilan. I believe we can build on that success by discovering and developing well-conditioned and well prepared competitors. I'm excited to connect with our current and future players to attack the challenge of building a program that the college and the Gilroy community can be proud of. Can't wait to meet everyone at our home games. Vamos Rams!”'