SAN DIEGO, Calif. – It's nine o'clock in the morning, and as Justin Downer begins another commute to his new job in San Diego, he takes a moment to reflect on his journey thus far. The Jessup alum, now college basketball coach, is rapidly climbing the ranks as one of the young upcoming names in college basketball.
 
Downer, a 2015 graduate of Jessup, is entering year one on the bench at Point Loma Nazarene University, but he is a long way from year one as a coach.
 
"I actually coached my first team when I was 13 years old, and I started coaching right out of high school," says Downer. "I ran summer camps through NBC camps, which is a camp run mostly out of the northwest. At the time, it was the number one most-attended overnight camp in the world. For me, it was a place I went as a camper, and it made me who I am as a player and as a person."
 
A native of the pacific northwest, basketball was not Downer's first love. It was actually the Seattle Mariners he looked up to as a young sports fan.
 
"I was a baseball guy first," said Downer. "I grew up in the Seattle area when (Ken Griffey Jr.), and (Alex Rodriguez), and Randy Johnson were a thing. There wasn't a cooler baseball team in the country. So I was a baseball guy until I was around 11 years old."
 
The switch to basketball, says Downer, came thanks to his childhood friends. He can thank them now, as that switch led to the line of work he is in nearly two decades later. "I just ended up on a travel team where I was one of the top ten players in the area. I think a lot of times you are shaped by your friendships, and while I had this huge passion for baseball, we created a really unique bond through a basketball team in fifth and sixth grade. My love for basketball really grew there."
 
Basketball is now a way of life for Downer, so much so that he married a fellow Jessup Basketball alum, Nicole McDonald. Together the two have one child, and a second one is on the way.
 
"I always tell people, there's no question who the better athlete and player was. I'm definitely the second-best player in my household and for sure the second-best athlete."
 
McDonald was a staple of Jessup's backcourt, averaging 11.3 PPG in the 2013-14 season, a year in which the Warriors reached the California Pacific Conference championship game.
 
Downer was a key piece to the Jessup lineup as well. In two seasons with the Warriors, Downer made his presence known behind the three-point line, averaging 34.3-percent from deep. Downer played for the Warriors in their final season in the Cal Pac and helped make history as the program transitioned to the Golden State Athletic Conference in 2014.
 
While their family may be done playing basketball, Downer added that the competitive fire is still very much alive within them. "When it comes to parenting our son, or household chores, or any board game on a weeknight, especially during COVID, those things are getting pretty competitive. There's definitely a standard I'm being held to that isn't as a coach."
 
As a coach, Downer recently made the transition to Point Loma, an NCAA Division II program that competes in the Pac West Conference. The 2022-23 season will be his first with the Sea Lions as he makes the move after spending three seasons at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
 
Downer, reflecting on the move and his time at Cal Poly, noted, "It was a dream opportunity, but now having a young family, the program just wasn't at a place for me to split time between family and basketball. It was going to need a lot more time around all basketball, and I just wasn't ready to do that at this stage of my life."
 
As he looks to grow in his new role with the Sea Lions, Downer can fall back on something he excelled at as a player: shooting. There is an old saying, those who cannot do, teach. That's far from the truth for Downer, as he prides himself on his ability to work with shooters and help perfect the art of shooting the basketball.
 
"As a coach, what I am best at, is developing. If you take the Xs and Os, and you take the leadership components, from just a skill development standpoint, that's probably my greatest skill is developing shooters. I've had a fairly good track record with that."
 
"For me, shooting came down to me having really good coaching, I had people who taught me how to do it, and then it was up to me to get the reps."
 
Downer has spent time working on shooting with several NBA players and NCAA Division I athletes, including Lamont Butler of San Diego State, who Downer coached in high school at Riverside Poly Tech.
 
It was at Riverside Poly Tech where Downer got his true start in coaching, and he did so along with another Jessup basketball alum, Julius Smith.
 
"Julius was one of the first people at Jessup that I ran into. Those who remember Julius know he's a lot of energy and he's a good time. He's a guy that I instantly connected with at Jessup. I was on a mission to become a coach, whatever that looked like, at the high school or college level, I wasn't sure. But then Julius actually texted me that summer saying he had heard I was moving to Riverside, which he was living in at the time, and I told him he needed to join me as a coach. He thought about it for a little bit and then completely changed the trajectory of his career path as he's a coach now as well."
 
The two have stayed in touch since their time in Riverside. In fact, they talk every day as Smith is entering his fourth season on the staff at Point Loma. From their time lighting it up in the Jessup backcourt, to today, the two Jessup alums are making a name for themselves in the game of basketball.
 
Point Loma is coming off a 21-win season last year that ended with a trip to the NCAA Regionals. The Sea Lions have aspirations of a deeper run this year, but that's not the only team Downer is affiliated with that hopes to be playing deep into March.
 
Since his graduation in 2015, Downer has kept a keen eye on his alma mater. First, as a rival, taking his first collegiate coaching job at Vanguard University, and now as a proud alum of a team looking to contend for an NAIA national title.
 
"I have so much pride in what we did there. I was there during a transition, but (Lance Von Vogt) always made me feel like I was part of a foundation there. We had some success early, and I had some success individually, but the year after I left, they went to the Sweet 16. I always felt like, you know what, even though it won't be publicly recognized, I felt like I was a part of that. I was a part of that foundation."
 
Basketball has been a journey for Justin Downer. It led him to receive a college education, connected him to the friends he still has today, and introduced him to his now-wife. Basketball has changed his life, but at the end of the day, the Downer family shifts their thanks to Jessup.
 
"We feel like our life is a product of Jessup's mission," said Downer, reflecting on his family and his journey thus far. "You take two kids that didn't necessarily grow up in a Christian school system, that attended public school, and you put them in a place where you were not sure what your plans were for your life. Now look at us ten years later, we have one kid, Jackson, who is almost a year and a half, and we have another baby girl on the way. It's just so crazy. We just feel like all of the things Jessup offered added up to where we're at with our marriage and our life. We're just so thankful Jessup could provide that for us."
 
There is plenty to reflect on during this drive to the office, and it's easy to ponder where he would be without basketball. But now it's time to go to work. A brand-new season is about to begin.  
William Jessup University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on William Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media: William Jessup University Athletics (Facebook) and @JessupAthletics (Twitter & Instagram).