Justin Brown (assistant coach) and John Gilliam (Creative Content and Video Coordinator) have recently been added to the Pacific Men’s Basketball staff.
The University of the Pacific men’s basketball head coach Leonard Perry announced the selection of Justin Brown as an Assistant Coach. Brown brings 11 years of college coaching experience in successful programs to his role with the Tigers.
“Justin Brown is quickly becoming one of the brightest stars in this business. He’s a consummate professional who works tirelessly along with being a great family man,” said head men’s basketball coach Leonard Perry. “He has been instrumental in the success of UOP Basketball in the past having coached former Tigers’ Roberto (Gallinat) and Jahlil (Tripp) both at South Plains JC. He’s since gone on to Eastern Illinois and UMKC as an assistant. We welcome he and his family to the Stockton community with open arms.”
Brown comes to Pacific after serving the last three seasons on the staff at Eastern Illinois. The Panthers were victorious in 17 games in 2019-20 – the third winning season since 2001 – and reached the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals. While at EIU, he was involved in the development of two-time OVC First-Teamer Josiah Wallace, All-OVC First Team honoree Marvin Johnson, All-OVC Second Team performer Mack Smith and All-OVC Newcomer George Dixon. Brown was briefly on the staff at UMKC this summer prior to making the decision to join the Tigers.
Prior to Eastern Illinois, Brown was an assistant for two years at South Plains College, helping to guide the 2018 team to the NJCAA National Championship and to a 28-8 record and 20. It was his second stint at the college as he also coached there from 2011-13, helping the guide the team to the 2012 NJCAA National Championship where they posted a 36-0 mark. In between the stints, he served as an assistant coach at Utah State University-East Utah, where the squad had three straight winning seasons. A total of 34 student-athletes from the teams he mentored landed spots on NCAA Division I rosters.
He was also the boys basketball coach at Perspective Charter High School in Chicago during the 2010-11 season and was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Southwest Baptist, for the 2009-10 year. He played two seasons at Southwest Baptist, helping the squad to back-to-back MIAA titles in 2008 and 2009. A 2009 Southwest Baptist graduate, he started his college career at South Plains. The Chicago native is a graduate of Robeson High School.
The University of the Pacific men’s basketball staff is excited to announce the hiring of Jon Gilliam as the team’s new Creative Content and Video Coordinator.
“I am so happy to have Jon on board with our program. Jon has won a national championship as a player on the Division II level. He has played for Kim Anderson, who I have known for a long time and is someone I trust. Coach Anderson has planted in him a great wisdom in him and taught him how to do the right thing in this profession. He also worked for Coach Newman at UTPB as an assistant coach,” said head men’s basketball coach Leonard Perry. “His knowledge and his ability to do everything from a social media and basketball standpoint as it pertains to video is going to be a tremendous help to us. He will be great for our players and has also seen the highest levels of basketball on the SEC. We are just elated to have him and his expertise in every aspect.”
Gilliam comes to Pacific after spending the last two years as an assistant coach at the University of Texas at Permian Basin with current Tigers’ assistant coach Josh Newman. With Newman and UTPB, he was responsible for multiple tasks including player development, scouting opponents as well as the coordination of community service, player recruitment, camps and social media and graphic design organization.
Last season, UTPB upset in back-to-back contests nationally ranked St. Edward’s and Dallas Baptist. Gilliam and the Falcons landed a pair of players – Jordan Horn and Trevion Lamar – on the all-Lone Star Conference Second Team. In his first season with UTPB in 2019-20, the Falcons were second in the LSC in scoring, field goal percentage and free throw shooting. One of his top players was Pat Dembley, who finished the season with 702 points – the second most in program history and the team set new school records in assists and steals.
Prior to UTPB, the Paris, Missouri native served as an assistant coach at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. While with the Gorillas, he recruited and mentored three all-conference players, one being named to the Bevo Francis top-100 award watch list.
Gilliam spent the 2016-17 season as the video coordinator for the University of Missouri. As the video coordinator, he would be involved in multiple aspects of the program including travel, recruiting mail outs, practice set up, oversight of student managers with the main job of video services which included scouting breakdown, filming of practice and post-game editing. Prior to his year as a video coordinator, he served as a graduate assistant for the program for two years.
Before entering the coaching ranks, Gilliam played two years of junior college basketball at Moberly Area Community College before signing at the University of Central Missouri. Gilliam was a member of two MIAA conference regular season championships, MIAA tournament championship, regional championship and the 2014 NCAA Division II National Championship.
Gilliam graduated from Central Missouri with his bachelor’s degree in 2014 and completed his master’s degree from the University of Missouri in 2016.
