LA JOLLA, Calif. (KGTV) — Inside LionTree Arena in La Jolla, new UC San Diego men’s basketball head coach Clint Allard leads his team through practice ahead of their first game of the season. It’s a new chapter for Allard at a program he’s known for nearly two decades.

“I have so much pride in UC San Diego,” Allard said. “I’ve seen so much growth, and for me to be the guy calling the shots now, it just means the world to me”.

There are new drills, offensive and defensive sets, but it all comes from the same brand of Triton basketball that helped them make history last season when they reached the NCAA tournament in their first year of eligibility.

“To go into the NCAA Tournament, playing in March Madness in front of 20,000 people, it was just something that was so memorable and something I’ll never forget,” Allard said.

Allard played for UCSD from 2004-08, when the Tritons were still competing at the Division II level. Seventeen years after his last season as a player, he served as the associate head coach for the Tritons’ first tournament team.

Junior guard Aidan Burke recalls how special the moment was for him to make the big dance with the team last year.

“That’s something I dreamed of as a kid, “Burke said. “Coming out of high school, playing in March Madness, obviously that’s a dream. Being able to accomplish it, that’s awesome”.

After one of the best seasons in program history, former Tritons Head Coach Eric Olen accepted a job for the same role at the University of New Mexico. Along with Olen’s departure, multiple players left the program — some graduating and some transferring schools. Those departures leave UCSD with only five returning players from last year’s tournament team.

Burke is the lone returner who played a significant role. He’s looking to use that experience to bring this team together.

“Yeah, we know we got a great group, a lot of talent,” Burke said. “Playing defense, shooting the 3. We just need to put it all together.”

It takes any team time to find their true identity during a new season, but with so many new faces on the sidelines and on the court, it presents a bigger challenge for Allard.

“It’s been a lot of teaching,” Allard said. “We’ve been at this since July, which feels like a long time, and we still have a long way to go to be the best version of ourselves”.

Despite the roster turnover, he’s ready to see his team compete at the highest level and bring continued success to a program he loves.

“We just gotta stick to the process and continue to get better through the season to hopefully be playing for a tournament birth in March”. Allard said.

The Tritons play their only exhibition game on Friday, October 24th, against CSU San Marcos at home. The first regular-season game is on November 3rd.

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San Diego FC coach Mikey Varas and star Anders Dreyer have been named finalists for three of Major League Soccer’s largest postseason awards.

Varas has been named a finalist for the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year Award, the league announced on Thursday.

The United States Men’s National Team’s former interim head coach, Varas has led SDFC to a record-setting season. Saturday’s win over the Portland Timbers extended the franchise’s record for most wins (19) and points (63) for an expansion team in Major League Soccer history. The No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, SDFC will host Portland on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-three first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.

Varas is one of three finalists for the award, joining Philadelphia Union’s Bradley Carnell and the Vancouver Whitecaps’ Jesper Sørensen. Philadelphia has won the Supporters’ Shield, given annually to the MLS team with the best regular-season record.

Dreyer is a finalist for both the Landon Donovan Most Valuable Player Award and the MLS Newcomer of the Year Award.

The 27-year-old Dreyer joined SDFC in January as the second designated player in club history, joining Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. Dreyer scored the first goal in franchise history in a Feb. 23 win over the LA Galaxy in Carson, and has gone on to post one of the best performances in MLS. Dreyer has scored 19 goals and logged a MLS-best 19 assists, accounting for 59% of SDFC’s 64 total goals.

Dreyer was named the league’s player of the month in both June and August.

Dreyer’s competition for the MVP award will be stiff. Lionel Messi, the league’s goals leader with 29, is another MVP finalist, alongside Denis Bouanga of LAFC, Sam Surridge of Nashville SC and Evander of FC Cincinnati. South Korean sensation Son Heung-Min of LAFC and Philip Zinckernagel of the Chicago Fire are the other candidates for the newcomer award.

The end-of-season awards are voted on by MLS club technical staff, MLS first-team players and select media members. Winners will be announced in the weeks leading up to the Dec. 6 MLS Cup final.

Timbers win, turn attention to Sunday and SDFC

Portland beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Wednesday night, setting up their first-round matchup with SDFC.

Timbers defender Kamal Miller, who scored in Wednesday’s win, said “it’s important to celebrate” wins like Wednesday’s, but that the team is focused on what’s ahead.

“The group is happy, but we know what San Diego just did to us on our home turf.  So we can’t get too happy,” he said.

Miller said the team will review film “to see all the areas where we went wrong against San Diego and what we can do better.”

Portland was admittedly sloppy in last weekend’s 4-0, rain-slicked loss at Providence Park. Miller said the Timbers “can’t turn the ball over like that” if they expect to beat the West’s top seed.

SDFC is “efficient and lethal,” Miller said. “They play 11 guys attack and 11 guys defend. They’re a good team.”

Originally Published: October 23, 2025 at 1:09 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A debate on a new tax for short-term vacation rentals, such as Airbnb’s, and second homes that aren’t rented out long-term could be coming to San Diego.

The proposal was approved 3 to 1 by the city’s rules committee, but it’s still months away from a final decision, which would be up to voters.

The proposal would charge a $5,000 tax per bedroom each year on properties, which the city says would impact about 10,644 properties in San Diego and bring in up to $135 million a year.

“Homes should be for San Diegans, not just for profit,” Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who initiated the ballot proposal, said.

Elo-Rivera was one of three councilmembers who voted Wednesday in favor of the measure, while Councilmember Raul Campillo was the lone ‘no’ vote.

“We are going to see significant economic harms and elimination of jobs; livelihoods are at stake because of this,” Campillo argued.

He said this tax could drive away tourists, hurt property owners who rely on that income, and argued that it would not add housing; instead, it might force local owners to sell because they couldn’t afford the tax, leading more out-of-state investors to buy up properties.

Campillo said in 2023 that the city collected $34.7 million in local Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from Airbnbs.

Before the vote Wednesday, opposing rallies were held outside City Council prior to the meeting starting.

“I support councilmember Elo Rivera’s proposal to tax the roughly 5,600 second homes in San Diego that sit vacant when not used by their owners,” one woman said at the podium in favor of the proposal.

“More than 80 percent of hosts live right here in the city,” another person said, against the tax proposal.

This is expected to be up for a second consideration in the Rules Committee in 2026 and would need to pass the full council by March to make it on the June ballot for voters to decide.