The former coach of a Colorado girls basketball team accused of having sex with his players made his first Colorado court appearance Friday morning and learned that he may face as many as 100 counts related to the alleged sexual assaults.

Rick Lopez, 36, ex-coach of the Colorado Hoopsters basketball club, was arrested in Syracuse, N.Y., on July 30. He was near the Syracuse University campus and a tipster had told the Douglas County Sheriff's Office that Lopez was in the area to visit one of his former Hoopsters players.

Douglas County authorities said he had sexual relations with at least three of his former players when they were underage.

While he is being held on two counts -- felony sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and misdemeanor sexual assault -- more charges will be filed, said Lt. Tim Moore with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.

"It will be dozens and dozens of counts, as many as 100," Moore said. "We are in the process of deciphering the evidence to see what we can put together that we can prove to the district attorney and in court."

Investigators said several of the assaults against former Hoopster players took place outside of Colorado and therefore Lopez can't be charged with them. However, they believe there is enough evidence to still put Lopez behind bars, saying that there is a taped phone conversation between Lopez and one of the alleged victims in which Lopez admits to some of the sexual assaults.

The three alleged victims, who are now adults, had lived in Douglas County, Jefferson County and Arapahoe County.

One victim came forward in July and within a month into the investigation, two other victims came forward, Moore said. Moore said the assaults occurred as early as 1998, when one of the victims was as young as 13 years old.

Two of those players said they engaged in ongoing relationships with the coach.

"Consent is not an issue in a case like this. It only has to do with the fact they they are underage, off limits and in this case we don't believe they were kept off limits," said Moore.

At one point, Lopez had lived with the family of one of his alleged victims, 7NEWS reported.

Moore said that since Lopez, a Castle Rock resident, had coached girls basketball for more than 10 years, more potential victims are out there. Moore urged victims to come forward.

"In cases like this, there's usually a pattern of abuse," Moore said. "Parents, take a look at the people who interact with your kids, re-evaluate the person. Pay attention to what your kids are doing. Get involved. Don't trust too much."

Lopez was returned to Colorado Thursday night after waiving his right to fight extradition at a hearing in Syracuse last week.

He had spent four weeks in a New York jail and is being held in the Douglas County Jail on $500,000 bond. He will appear in court next Wednesday to be formally charged. He has denied all of the allegations.

The Colorado Hoopsters, a nationally prominent basketball club, is in the process of reorganizing as a nonprofit organization. It wants to set up a five-to-nine person oversight board made up of parents and community members. Its goal is to keep the team and its coaches under closer scrutiny so that incidents like this never happen again.

Lopez resigned from the team during a tournament in Oregon last month. The team, which has sent players to several powerhouse college basketball teams, had said only that he had left for personal reasons.

The sheriff's office asks that anyone with information about the case call (303) 660-7562.