St. Martin’s Landon to lead return of Seawolves’ men’s basketball
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, has been named head coach of the Sonoma State University men’s basketball team.
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.
October 15 will be his first day at SSU.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Landon and his family to SSU,” said Joan McDermott, Sonoma State’s interim director of athletics. “We were looking for a strong leader with proven success as a head coach, and one who is community-oriented.
“We are confident we have found a leader who will grow and develop a program that will have success both on and off the court.”
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.
“Coach Landon’s record as a leader and educator represents how a balance can be struck between student athletic achievement, personal growth, and academic excellence,” SSU President Michael E. Spagna said. “As Sonoma State athletics begins a new era, sustaining this balance – and welcoming our communities to witness and engage with how it is achieved – will be essential to all of our athletics programs.”
"I couldn't be more excited about the future of Sonoma State and the opportunity to build an entirely new program,” Landon said. “There is such an exciting vision and energy around growth at Sonoma State right now – you feel it as soon as you step on campus.
“I'm from Northern California, and I'll be relentless in my work to build a championship program in the region I grew up in,” he added. “I can't wait to get started and connect with all the Seawolves out there. I'm excited to work with everyone and build something special here.”
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, 44, 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.