The Panther Spotlight: Gary Plunkett
By Aaron Rogers
As of Nov. 15, 2025, Plunkett has returned as the new dean of health and wellness and as the athletic director here at Chaffey College.
An athletic director's role is very crucial to student-athletes and coaches. The position's responsibilities span from overseeing every school sports program to setting up student athletes to be successful in the classroom. As the new Chaffey College athletic director, Gary Plunkett is hoping to continue building up the athletic programs.
"First and foremost is to have the students have their opportunities to be a successful student," Plunkett stated. "Whether it is a certificate to join the work force or a transfer degree, our main goal is to be student-centered and help our student athletes achieve their goals and move onto a four-year college."
Plunkett's passion for sports comes from his love of basketball and fitness. In his free time, he likes to be active by playing basketball or going on hikes with his wife. When he is not working out, he is either watching sports or a movie with his four kids.
On the court, Plunkett has always worked in higher education and college athletics. While attending college at Cal State Dominguez Hills, he was a graduate assistant coach for the men's basketball team before becoming a paid assistant for the women's team.
After five years with Dominguez Hills, he was hired at Cal State Los Angeles as a full-time assistant coach for both the men's and women's basketball team.
"Both were Division Two programs, and I learned a lot from coaching at a high level with so many mentors," Plunkett said.
He had always dreamed of becoming a head coach, and Plunkett got that opportunity in 2005 at Chaffey College. Under his tenure, Chaffey's women's basketball team made it to the playoffs for seven of Plunkett's last eight years and never had a losing season. In his time, Plunkett was able to coach and send athletes to four-year colleges, furthering their athletic careers and education.
While at Chaffey, a part of his assignment was also serving as the head of administration duties, where he got a taste of athletic administration. Initially, his dreams were to be a coach; however, the taste of athletic administration led him to want to become an athletic director.
With these late aspirations, he saw his vision realised in 2014, when he was hired on as the athletic director at the College of the Desert. He was later promoted to the dean of health sciences in 2021.
As of Nov. 15, 2025, Plunkett officially rejoined Chaffey in his newest roles in the athletic department.
When asked what made him come back to Chaffey, Plunkett answered:
"My previous experience from my time here at Chaffey. The leadership is the same with Dr. Shannon, who is really supportive of athletics. [Also,] the college and the community all around it. The sports are very similar to the sports we had at College of the Desert.”
Now that he is back, not only is he adamant on having the students have opportunities to be successful, but he also wants to win championships.
“Winning Championships is our second goal; the coaches and teams in the past show that it is an achievable goal for any of the sports. The challenge is with the surrounding community colleges. We will be in a recruitment battle to land the best players in the area.”
While at College of the Desert, Plunkett oversaw recent success. The college's Roadrunners women's soccer team won their first-ever conference title in 2024, and their baseball team secured an Inland Empire Athletic Conference title in 2022.
Back at Chaffey, Plunkett's first task of building a championship athletic department will be hiring a new baseball coach for a team coming off Back-to-Back-to-Back Conference Titles.