Lou is a CIF coaching legend. He is best known for coaching CIF-Southern Section championships in three different sports, and is most remembered for turning the Santa Clara High School boys basketball teams from Oxnard into a perennial powerhouse He took charge at Santa Clara in 1958, and spent the next 41 seasons, until 1999, racking up a state-record 829 victories, 30 league championships, 15 Southern Section titles, and three California state crowns. The Saints won state championships in 1989, 1990, and 1999, and remained the only Ventura County boys basketball program to have reached the state championship game during his time.
Under his direction, the Saints football team won 104 games, seven league championships and two Southern Section crowns. His baseball teams won 114 games, five league championships, and one CIF title. With 18 overall CIF-SS championships, he remains the only coach in California prep history to win section crowns in basketball, football, and baseball. Upon his retirement in 1999, Cvijanovich was elected into the California High School Sports Hall of Fame. He’s also a member of the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame, the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and the National High School Hall of Fame. He passed away on November 24, 2018 at the age of 92.