WOODLAND HILLS — When Pierce College assistant men’s basketball coach Tarek Abdelsameia crossed the stage at LA Valley College on June 9, he celebrated two decades’ worth of patience.
Abdelsameia had watched his former players receive high school diplomas at Monarch Stadium at his alma mater Grant, where he was head coach from fall 2017 to spring 2025 and won two CIF LA City Section Division I titles while succeeding his mentor, legendary coach Howard Levine.
Now it was Abdelsameia’s turn to bask in the limelight for a few seconds after receiving his AA degree in history with a teaching credential, fulfilling a plan he’d had for years, but it had been challenging to find the opportunity to attend college in the timely manner he had wished.
“Going to school was always on the back burner,” Abdelsameia said. “I began coaching at Grant by the age of 20 and helping Howie. I was self-taught in a lot of things. I got married and had three kids. Everything I was doing from working to raising a family, it stopped me from having my degree and stopped me from expanding my coaching career.
Abdelsameia was a standout basketball player himself and played alongside former Cal State Fullerton and Azusa Pacific guard Mike Danielian for three seasons.
But college was put aside when his mother, Sevin, passed away from a sudden heart attack. Sevin was receiving a routine dialysis treatment at the time.
That left Abdelsameia to fend for himself after his father abruptly moved back to Egypt in 2005.
He was alone. Abdelsameia had to figure out a way to make monthly house payments in 2007 at 19 years old. The average cost of rent was between $1,642 and $1,683, according to data received by the Orange County Registrar in April 2007.
I’m so used to working at 5 a.m. and working 16-hour days,” Abdelsameia said. “Those long days are normal. I feel lazy if I don’t work a 12-hour day.”
Abdelsameia found a career working in IT for a logistics company and had worked part time at a Bally Total Fitness for a time before heading to Grant after work to coach boys basketball.
“I graduated college from the same field at high school,” Abdelsameia said while thinking back about the memory of his mother. “It’s been so long, but she’d be happy. She would’ve forced me to do this a long time ago. It was youthful ignorance, I guess. I should’ve done it so much sooner.”
The COVID-19 Pandemic turned out to be the break Abdelsameia needed. With idle time, Abdelsameia began enrolling in online classes at LA Valley College and began chipping away at the units he needed for his AA degree.
He had accumulated half of the units he needed to graduate by the time CIF high school sports reopened across the state in 2021.
After resigning as head coach of Grant in April 2025, Abdelsameia went back to school to complete the first leg of his academic collegiate journey. He will pursue an BA in history, earn his teaching credential and then apply for grad school to earn a Master’s degree in coaching and athletic administration.
The last year allowed Abdelsameia to take a backseat as well and watch his children.
His 16-year-old son Elijah is a guard at Pacifica Christian in Santa Monica. He spent for time with his daughter Isla-Kanayri, who is 18 months old. And he learned about the talents of his 10-year-old son Avery.
Avery was diagnosed as having high functioning autism and excels in math. He also learned that Avery is a polyglot — the ability to speak, learn and understand multiple languages. To his father’s amazement, Avery taught himself how to speak fluent Spanish and Russian by watching videos on an IPad.
Time spent away from coaching has refueled Abdelsameia. He’s ready not only to continue his college education, but also to coach college basketball for the first time at Pierce.
For Abdelsameia, receiving his degrees goes beyond wanting to achieve more in basketball.
“Coaching has always been about being the person I needed when I was that age,” Abdelsameia said. “Howie was my coach, but it wasn’t just about athletics. There was the human aspect of it he really mastered. I want to be in a space where I can impact people the most. Where I end up is predicated on where I can be the most useful.”
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