We’ve been talking about these moves since July. UMass Lowell has finally made the official announcement…
Head Coach Pat Duquette has added two new members to his staff for the 2021-22 season. Jon Iati joins the program as the River Hawks’ newest assistant coach, while Chip Cunningham will step into the director of basketball operations role.
“We are thrilled to add both Jon and Chip to our program,” commented Duquette. “Jon has already had lots of success in our league, as both a player and a coach. Chip brings such a broad range of DI experience from junior college, TCU, Ohio and Boston College. Most importantly, I am confident that both of them will profoundly impact the development of our student-athletes both on and off the floor.”
Iati comes to Lowell following eight years on staff at his alma mater and fellow America East Conference institution, UAlbany. After serving as an assistant coach for the Great Danes since 2012, he was promoted to associate head coach in 2017 and would go onto be ranked the No. 2 assistant in the league by Stadium.com. During his tenure, the team won three America East Championships and one regular-season title, and earned its first ever NCAA Tournament victory in 2014. The York, Pa. native recruited nine America East All-Conference honorees, including the league’s 2016 Rookie of the Year.
Before heading back to familiar turf, Iati was the director of basketball operations for Quinnipiac from 2008-12. The Bobcats won their first regular-season championship and earned their first post-season berth in school history while he was on staff.
As a student-athlete, Iati helped lead the Great Danes to back-to-back America East Championships and their first NCAA Tournament appearances in school history in 2006-07. The 2004 America East Rookie of the Year was inducted into the UAlbany Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the 2006 team in 2017.
He graduated from UAlbany with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2007 and a master’s degree in liberal studies in 2009.
Cunningham comes to UMass Lowell from Boston College where he served as the video production analyst for the men’s basketball program since 2014. While there, his duties included overseeing all video, technology and advanced analytics for the program. He assisted with all scouting and video breakdown, and kept a detailed video library of the team’s plays and drills. He also oversaw the program’s academic progress and assisted with on-campus recruiting.
Prior to BC, Cunningham was the director of basketball operations at Ohio for two seasons. During that time, he oversaw the daily operations of the Bobcats’ program, including scheduling, on-campus recruiting, academic monitoring and video coordination.
From 2009-12, Cunningham was on staff at his alma mater, Texas Christian University, where he served as a video coordinator and graduate assistant. In that role, he managed all video and technology operations, including film exchange, scouting reports and maintaining a library of drills and plays. He also supervised the student managers and organized recruiting databases.
Cunningham spent time as the assistant coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas before joining TCU. He has also been the assistant varsity coach and head junior varsity coach at Bishop T.K. Gorman High School in Tyler, Texas.
Cunningham graduated from TCU in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
https://goriverhawks.com/news/2021/9/15/river-hawks-announce-two-staff-additions.aspx
