Former Eagle operations assistant is elevated to a basketball coaching role for defending Big Sky Conference champions
CHENEY – The 2020-21 Eastern Washington University men’s basketball season will include a new assistant coach, as T.J. Lipold moves from an operations position to a coaching role for the Eagles. Replacing Lipold as EWU’s director of basketball operations is Shawn James, a veteran of two previous seasons with the program.
Lipold (pronounced “Lip-old”) began working for the program in June of 2017 in an assistant director of basketball operations/video coordinator role. The 2020-21 season will be his fourth overall at EWU, and his first as an assistant coach after spending 2019-20 as the head director of basketball operations.
“T.J. has worked his tail off the last few years in our program and is ready to make the jump into a coaching position,” Eastern head coach Shantay Legans said in an Oct. 29 news release. “His energy and passion are infectious, and he will be a huge asset as he helps coach our defense and the big men this season.”
Lipold’s previous responsibilities included film breakdown, scouting reports preparation, opponent player tendencies evaluation and day-to-day team operations. Last year’s Eastern team finished 23-8 and won the Big Sky Conference regular season title with a 16-4 record before the season ended with tournament cancelations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lipold played two years (2010-2012) under John Moore at Westmont College, where he was a part of back-to-back 25-win seasons and earned his bachelor’s degree. Before Westmont, Lipold played his first two years of college basketball for Saddleback College (2009-10) under head coach Andy Ground and assistant Nick Booker. Booker is EWU’s former associate head coach.
While at Saddleback, Lipold earned first team All-Orange Empire League on a team that won the CCAA State Championship in 2010.
After completing his master’s degree in education in 2013, he started coaching at Saddleback College, serving as an assistant coach for three years. He contributed to another state title as part of the 2015 CCAA State Championship team, and his responsibilities included recruiting, practice planning, scouting, skill development and academic planning.
James now coordinates operations and video for the team, and the previous two years as a graduate assistant he helped work with EWU wing and post players.
He also has previously helped with video analysis and assisted with on-campus visits and summer camps while at EWU. He completed his master’s degree in educational leadership in 2020.
A 2016 graduate of the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif., James received his degree in environmental business and played four years of basketball for the Bulldogs. The NCAA Division III school won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title in the 2012-13 season.
Prior to coming to Eastern, he was an assistant coach at Dallas Christian College in the 2016-17 season. He was responsible for player development, statistics/analytics, scouting opponents, video exchange, and special teams.
After that, he was an intern in the 2017-18 season for the Dallas Mavericks in the National Basketball Association. He assisted with practices, shootarounds, and pre- and post-game workouts. He was able to work with the team in the 2018 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Nev.
James is originally from Plano, Texas, and attended Plano Senior High School.
Reader Comments(0)