Leonard Epps has resigned as Athletic Director and Head Men’s Basketball Coach of Yellowstone Christian College to take the Men’s Basketball Head Assistant position at York College (NE).
Epps, who played under Coach Delton Deal at York in 2009, returns to the school that gave him his coaching start as a volunteer assistant. Epps brings five years of coaching to the Panthers where he will be partnered with former teammate and long-time friend Treyon Burks, who was named the Panthers’ head coach last week.
Epps first came to Yellowstone Christian in 2014, where he was greeted with the task of building the athletics program from scratch. He oversaw the transformation of a storage barn be converted into a gym and fitness center on campus; he recruited players from across the nation and across the globe; and most importantly, he committed his time and effort to grow his players as students, as basketball players, and as men.
Epps’ commitment paid off and was rewarded with immediate success. His young teams achieved a combined record of 27-31 over the course of two full seasons. He coached his teams against nearly every level of competition, including facing two NCAA Division II institutions in the 2016-2017 season.
In his short stint at YCC, Epps guided the Centurions to a 6th place finish at the 2016 Christian College National Invitational Tournament, and bettered that with a 3rd place finish at the 2017 CCNIT. Epps coached five NCCAA All-Region players, including a Player of the Year selection in 2016.
In addition to the on-court success, Epps saw massive improvements in the classroom. The Centurions’ team GPA jumped from 2.3 in the 2015-2016 season to a remarkable 3.2 GPA in the 2016-2017 season. Eleven of his student-athletes finished with a 3.0 or better, and one held a 4.0 all season. “Study hall on and off the road paid off,” a proud Epps said in a post on Facebook.
Epps, his wife Rabea, and their two children will begin the transition to Nebraska before he assumes his duties in August. “There’s no better feeling than going home,” Epps said.
