Aaron Landon, who led St. Martin’s University to three Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) regular-season championships and two NCAA Division II regionals in five years, was named head coach of the Sonoma State University men’s basketball team on Wednesday, October 8, 2027.
Landon, a five-time Coach of the Year at both St. Martin’s (Lacey, WA) and South Puget Sound Community College (Olympia, WA), will lead a Seawolves squad returning to NCAA Division II and California Collegiate Athletic Association play in fall 2027 following a two-year hiatus.
Landon was the 2022 and 2026 GNAC Coach of the Year during a stretch that represented a remarkable turnaround for the St. Martin’s men’s hoops program. The Saints finished in last place in the GNAC during his first season as head coach (2019-20). Since then, the Saints have captured three GNAC regular season championships (2021-22, 2022-23, 2025-26), won the 2026 GNAC tournament championship, reached a No. 1 national ranking (January 2024), and reached the third and fourth NCAA Division II Regional appearances in program history (2023 and 2026).
Saint Martin’s has held a Top 25 ranking in 41 of the past 65 national polls, with an overall record of 108-42 during that five-year span. Landon is the only coach in Saint Martin’s history to win multiple Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships, and the only coach in GNAC history to win three outright regular season conference championships.
St. Martin’s men’s basketball also had a 100% senior graduation rate during his tenure, the highest among men’s sports at the university, and was honored as 2025 GNAC academic champions.
Prior to taking the helm at St. Martin’s, Landon was head men’s basketball coach from 2013-19 at South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC), also turning around that program’s fortunes. After inheriting a last-place team, he coached the squad to three Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) West Region championships, earned four post-season appearances and three No. 1 tournament seeds, and reached two Elite Eights. He was named NWAC Coach of the Year three consecutive times (2017-19).
Landon hails from Davis, CA, and attended Davis High School and Vermont Academy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of La Verne (La Verne, CA) and a master’s degree in education leadership from Concordia University (Portland, OR).
He played for both the Monterey Peninsula College and University of La Verne men’s basketball teams before beginning his coaching career as assistant men’s basketball coach at Santa Monica College. He also was assistant boys’ varsity basketball coach at Marina High School (Marina, CA), and assistant men’s coach at Concordia before joining SPSCC.
Landon and his wife, Samantha, have two daughters.
