Anthony Figueroa returns to Parkland College Men's Basketball in 2020-21 for his 9th season as head coach, having posted an overall record of 185-65. In his first eight seasons, Coach Figueroa led the Cobras to two of its best finishes in program history at NJCAA Nationals while creating an athlete pipeline to four-year schools. Figueroa is a three-time Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) NJCAA Coach of the Year, as well as a Region 24 and three-time M-WAC Coach of the Year.
Taking over prior to the 2012-13 season, Figueroa put the Cobras back in the national picture in his fourth and fifth seasons with back-to-back top-10 finishes at NJCAA Nationals. The Cobras placed sixth in 2016 and fifth in 2017, adding to the program's National Runner-Up and fourth-place finishes in 1988 and 1989. The Cobras qualified for the tournament in 2020, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In addition to the national-level success, Figueroa has guided the Cobras to routine finishes atop the M-WAC conference and Region 24. Parkland has won four of the past six M-WAC Championships, and in 2016, 2017, and 2020, the Cobras won Region 24 Championships en route to NJCAA Nationals appearances/qualification.
As a result of the program's success under Figueroa, 20 Cobra players have received either Region 24 or M-WAC post-season recognition. Highlighting the individual accolades are Carter Jeffries- 2020 MWAC POY, Yaakema Rose Jr.- 2019 3rd-Team All-American, 2019 Region 24 POY, and 2019 M-WAC MVP, and Marcus Latham- 2018 M-WAC Co-POY. In eight seasons, 46 players have moved on to play at a four-year college or university,
Prior to taking over the Parkland program, Figueroa made multiple stops at the high school and collegiate level. High school stops include Champaign Centennial and St.Thomas More, and collegiate stops include Lackawanna College and Millikin University.
A native of Champaign, Illinois, Figueroa played basketball at Champaign Centennial High School before continuing his basketball career at Chicago State and Millikin University. Figueroa graduated from Millikin with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Following graduation, Figueroa played professionally in Puerto Rico.
