Meet The Coaches

Head Coach, Santa Barbara High School

John Keogh

Coach Keogh will head up the Flames (K-1) in 2023. A native of Fairport, NY, John has a deep coaching background and also teaches at Santa Barbara High.

Hotshots Head Coach

Evan Smith

Coach Evan Smith hails from Tri-Cities, WA. He has been with the Hotshots since inception and has helped develop virtually every player currently playing in Santa Barbara.

Hotshots Head Coach / Grizzlies Director

Drew Hays

Drew is also a Fairport, NY native who played midfield for NCAA D-1 perennial power University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. He is an exceptional teacher of the game for players of all ages and abilities. Drew is a small business owner and recently launched Galivant Teardrop Trailers which are handcrafted by him in Ventura.

Head Coach, San Marcos High School

Ike Chafkin

Coach Ike has coached youth and high school lacrosse players in Santa Barbara since 2018. He attended NCAA D-III Beloit College (WI) where he played lacrosse and football.

Ike an Account Executive at Essentials in DevOps with Copado, he serves as the Head Coach at San Marcos High School.

Hotshots Head Coach

Austin Brake

Coach Brake grew up playing lacrosse in Montgomery County, Maryland and played lacrosse at Frostburg State before moving to CA. He has coached all ability and ages with Hotshots since its inception.

A recent UCSB graduate, Austin is a Strategic Account Manager for HG Insights.

Varsity Assistant, San Marcos High School

Nik Brander-Hodosy

Nik is the first local product (Laguna Blanca School) that went on to play lacrosse in the NCAA for D-III for Wheaton College in Massachusetts. He represented the Argentine national team in the 2010 and 2014 World games in Manchester, England and Denver, Colorado respectively.

When not working for the family business, Brander Vineyards, he is the longest tenured high school lacrosse varsity coach for the Royals.

Hotshots Coach

Marshall Spurlock

Marshall is from Menlo Park, CA. Another standout two-sport athlete in high school, Marshall was a hard hitting safety/middle linebacker in football and a face-off specialist in lacrosse for Menlo-Atherton High School. Marshall was pursued by multiple NCAA DII and III schools but decided on attending Santa Barbara City College with the plan to transfer to UCSB to join Coach Allen and the Gauchos.

Hotshots Coach

Ben Arenchild

Hotshots Coach

Bryce Bowman

Hotshots Coach

Noah Alford

Hotshots Coach

Ben Wahler

Ben Wahler is an experienced and recognized member of the lacrosse community for his performance and leadership skills as a student-athlete and team captain at the University of Denver, and for his high school coaching and individual development accomplishments.

Prior to attending DU, Ben attended Cushing Academy in central Mass to pursue his dream of becoming a college hockey or lacrosse player. He then played a year of Junior Hockey in the EJHL before his ambition was met by being recruited to Hobart College as a two-sport athlete. During his freshman year, Ben recognized his growing intention of pursuing his longer term professional goals and was presented with an opportunity to head back near his hometown of CO and continue his story as a member of the Denver Pioneers.

He is currently the head of Global Communications and Experience at Deckers Brands and a Varsity coach at Dos Pueblos High School.

Hotshots Coach

Lucas Martinez

Lucas Martinez, a Massachusetts native, played for one of the oldest high school programs in the country, Concord-Carlisle. He was selected to All Eastern Mass team his senior year and went on to be a four year starter at MCLA Div 1 Boston College where he earned All League honors.

Coach Martinez enters into his 8th season at Dos Pueblos High School as the Varsity Defensive Coordinator.