Jesse West was visiting a small high school in downtown Los Angeles recently when Trinity Prep athletic director Bob Greene called him.

West had searched the entire state for the right boys basketball head coaching position — and the right city for him and his wife, Nicole.

He thought he had found them.

But Greene told him he should check out Trinity Prep and Napa first.

He did, and now he’s the Crusaders’ new coach.

“I was all positioned for the L.A. job and I almost took it, but I liked so many more things about Trinity Prep. It has a really good family atmosphere, and Bob Greene was a big factor,” West said of the Crusaders’ AD and baseball coach.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to work with him. I thought our visions lined up, and I thought it was a school where we could build a really good basketball program. I enjoyed his enthusiasm about the program, and I liked the way he solved things. He cares about basketball but he’s not into micro-managing. He’ll be there for your sport, but he won’t ask why you didn’t put No. 13 in with two minutes to go.”

West comes to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V school from a program that’s been a bit more under the microscope than Trinity Prep in recent years — Lincoln-Stockton, an SJS Division I program that’s won the last two San Joaquin Athletic Association crowns.

Under head coach Gary Greeno the last three seasons, the Trojans went 50-33 overall and 24-7 in SJAA play but lost their playoff opener each year.

West assisted Greeno only last year, after moving from his native Virginia.

It was his first season of coaching since 2005. During the hiatus, he had a home-improvement business and earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Regents University.

“The timing was good for me to get back into coaching,” he said. “Then in talking with Greeno after last season, we thought it was the right time for me to look for a head coaching job.”

The transition — from Lincoln and its 2,700-student enrollment to Trinity Prep & Kolbe Academy’s 50 high school students — has been pretty drastic for West.

“The thing to keep in mind is that we’re building a program,” said West, who started holding summer workouts shortly after being hired in early June.

“Even tonight (June 25), we were going over positions on the court. Some things have to be taught that you take for granted at a bigger school, but the mindset is to build a winning program. ”

The Crusaders’ cozy home gym at Crosswalk Community Church has also been a change from Lincoln’s brand-new facility.

“I went from one of the newer gyms in the section to a smaller gym, but I like the closeness of a smaller place,” West said. “If you want a family atmosphere, it’s nice to have a smaller place, and you can make more noise.”

He has a slightly longer commute from his and Nicole’s home in Natomas, but they plan to move closer to Napa depending on where Nicole, an elementary teacher, can find a job.

They will celebrate their first anniversary on Aug. 16.

West began coaching in 2000, guiding both the boys and girls teams and serving as athletic director at Oaktree School, a high school of about 250 students in Chesapeake, Va.

He guided the Oaktree boys to three straight league titles and more than 65 wins in his three seasons there.

He was also an assistant at a school bigger than Lincoln-Stockton, Princess Anne in Virginia Beach, Va.

He has worked with players between ages 6 and 18 with varying ability and experience levels during his career, working at or directing camps and coaching at the high school and middle school levels.

Between 2001 and 2003, West worked with Basketball Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wooten at the Coach Wooten Basketball Camp in Alexandria, Va.

Wooten is the most successful head coach in the history of basketball, winning 86.9 percent of his games at DeMatha Catholic High in Hyattsville, Md., from 1956 to 2002.

In 2000, he was elected and inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame — one of only three high school coaches ever so honored.

West also coached with Wooten’s son, Joe, who turned once-struggling Bishop O’Connell into a three-time Virginia Div. I state champion.

“Those two guys have really been my mentors,” West said. “I’d love to do something similar, turn a program that hasn’t been real big into a program that’s competitive.”

West never played high school or college basketball himself, only recreational and intramural ball.

“We had a really good high school program,” he said of Indian River in Chesapeake, Va., where University of North Carolina star Jason Capel played as a freshman and sophomore.

West takes over a Crusaders team that went 12-11 overall and 6-4 in Northern Pacific Athletic Conference play last year under coach Sal Alvarez.

Trinity Prep will be without four-year starter Dan Cravalho — who had more than twice as many points as any teammate last year — but West doesn’t mind that.

“Sometimes you get the Kobe Bryant effect if one guy is dominant, because the other guys tend to stand back and watch,” he said. “Maybe having him graduate creates an opportunity for all the guys to get involved and play team defense. We definitely have a young team with three seniors and six freshmen, but that’s good. It gives me time to work with them and develop a program over time.”

The summer program will include a July 11-12 tournament at Cardinal Newman, an event West said was arranged for him by new Justin-Siena head coach Ray Particelli.

“One thing that’s been nice, for being here such a short time, is that the other coaches in the area have been very receptive and welcoming,” he said.

West said he’s trying to organize a small round-robin tournament at Trinity Prep’s home gym at Crosswalk Community Church to take place just before the summer program ends Aug. 8.

“This will be a lighter summer than we’ll have in the future,” he said. “Next year, we’ll go to some basketball camps.”