Arizona graduate and former Salpointe assistant coach Dr. August Mendes, part of Mike Bibby’s first staff at Sacramento State, will hold a free clinic for high school basketball coaches at Sunnyside High School on Aug. 16.
The time of the event is tentatively scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon.
Former Sunnyside player and Pima assistant coach Mateo Garcia is organizing the event after starting the non-profit organization Cam Ave Partnership.
“Coach Mendes will provide in-classroom and on-court instruction,” Garcia mentioned. “I know how much our community could use free resources like these.”
High school coaches can register at the Cam Ave Partnership website or by e-mail – contact@camavepartnership.org.
Mendes, who earned a PhD in general psychology from Grand Canyon last year, completed a master’s degree in education leadership (2014) and bachelor’s degree in physical education (2010) at Arizona.
A Chicago native, Mendes served as an assistant coach at Salpointe from 2012 to 2014 while attending Arizona and working with the Wildcat Club.
He became the associate head coach at Phoenix Shadow Mountain in 2014, working alongside Bibby.
He has a background that includes player development, scouting, and basketball operations across various levels of the basketball industry.
Before joining Bibby’s first staff at Sacramento State (the Arizona great was hired as the Hornets’ head coach in April), Mendes served as the Director of NIL Strategy and assistant coach for the Nike EYBL National Team at Bella Vista College Prep.
Under his guidance, Bella Vista posted a 21–6 record, winning Arizona’s first Beach Ball Classic championship, as well as the Nike EYBL Scholastic regular season conference title in what is one of the most competitive high school basketball leagues in the country.
Mendes also helped lead Bella Vista to its first appearance at the Chipotle Nationals tournament, one of the most prestigious high school events in the country. It was his fourth overall trip to the tournament during his coaching career. The team closed the season ranked eighth in the nation by ESPN.
He was also the assistant coach and video coordinator at national powerhouse Arizona Compass Prep in 2022–23, when the team finished 24–6 and earned a national runner-up finish at GEICO Nationals. The program produced seven Division I commits, including the school’s first McDonald’s All-American, Mookie Cook.
Mendes has also served as scout for the Puerto Rican U19 National Team (2022) and contributor to basketball operations at the NBA Draft Combine (2015–20).
A significant achievement for Mendes was being selected as the lead coach at the 2019 Jordan Brand Invitational in Taiwan. There, he coached the event’s top 52 collegiate prospects in the country, focused on player development, film study significance, and leadership skill building.
From 2014-19, Mendes was a key part of the coaching staff at Shadow Mountain under Bibby.
During that run, Shadow Mountain captured four consecutive state titles, amassed a 157–21 overall record, and maintained a 72-game winning streak. That includes an undefeated streak at home for six straight years. The program also became the first public school in Arizona history to qualify for the Dick’s National Tournament featuring future collegiate and NBA players.
In 2010, he founded Top of the Chain Basketball LLC, a high performance development company that has served NBA, NCAA, and elite high school athletes. Through Top of the Chain Basketball, he led custom NBA pre-draft training programs, specializing in preparing athletes for peak performance results. His basketball journey began in 2011 at Attack Athletics in Chicago, training under the guidance of Tim Grover at one of the country’s premier athlete performance facilities.
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