Stoudamire to join Celtics; Leonard Perry named Pacific coach
Damon Stoudamire is returning to the NBA.
Stoudamire, the men’s basketball coach at University of the Pacific since 2016, will become an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.
The 47-year-old 1996 NBA rookie of the year who had just completed his fifth season will be replaced by associate head coach Leonard Perry, who joined Stoudamire’s staff in April 2016.
“This is big news for our university, community, and men’s basketball program,” Janet Lucas, Pacific athletic director, said.
“He made a commitment to Pacific and he has always honored that commitment in a big way. He walked into a very challenging situation and he turned it around,” she said.
Stoudamire took over a program that had just completed the 2015 season with eight wins and 20 losses. Then head coach Ron Verlin and assistant coach Dwight Young had been suspended due to an investigation for academic misconduct.
The university issued a selfimposed postseason ban, and reduced scholarships by six over Stoudamire’s first three seasons.
But the team improved each year with 11 wins in 2016-17 and 14 wins in 2017 and 2018.
The 2019-20 season saw Pacific turn the corner, going 23-10 and making it to the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament.
Those results were recognized that season when Stoudamire
was named the 2019-20 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year and the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year, which is given to the top minority coach at the Division I level.
Lucas said those results led Pacific to turn to Perry as Stoudamire’s successor.
Continuity was important, she said. Coach Perry “was part of that success. He can step into that leadership role and continue.”
Stoudamire’s name had come up in connection with several openings this offseason, including the men’s basketball coaching position at the University of Arizona.
Stoudamire was the 1995 first round draft pick, No. 7 overall, of the Toronto Raptors. He played 13 seasons in the NBA averaging 13.4 points and 6.1 assists per game. He transitioned to coaching, first as director of player development at Rice University, then assistant stints with the Memphis Grizzlies, University of Memphis, University of Arizona, and Memphis again before settling in with his first head coaching job at Pacific.
He will be joining the staff of Ime Udoka, who last month was named head coach of the Celtics.