University of Portland has hired Arturo Ormond as an assistant coach, Pilots head coach Shantay Legans announced on Wednesday. Ormond brings a wealth of coaching experience at all levels of basketball, including serving the last two seasons as the associate head coach at Eastern Washington.
Ormond has coached at six different Division I universities, was a highly successful high school head coach, and also has extensive experience coaching Grassroots AAU Basketball. Ormond was an assistant coach at Fresno State from 2002-05, where he coached Legans during his redshirt season and final year of collegiate eligibility.
“We are very fortunate to have Arturo join our staff,” Legans said. “He is great at developing players and is well-connected in the recruiting world. Arturo brings a different level of experience to our staff and will be a great asset for our program.”
“I am so excited to join the University of Portland family,” Ormond said. “Coach Legans has a clear vision about where he plans to take Pilot basketball, which was one of the reasons I was drawn to this amazing opportunity. The second is my respect and admiration for Coach Legans. Having had the pleasure of coaching him in college, I am so proud to have witnessed his growth into an excellent coach and leader. I have been very fortunate to work with some elite coaches throughout the course of my career and I am thrilled to continue that trend here at Portland. Go Pilots!”
Ormond helped Eastern Washington achieve great success including a trip to the 2023 National Invitational Tournament (NIT). The Eagles went a perfect 16-0 in Big Sky Conference play last year and tied a program record with an 18-game winning streak. The team finished with a 23-11 overall record. Ormond and the Eagles posted an 18-16 record during the 2021-22 campaign.
Ormond was an assistant coach at UTEP the previous two seasons where he helped the Miners post their first winning record in four years during the 2019-20 season. Bryson Williams and Souley Boum earned All-Conference USA honors under his tutelage in 2021.
Ormond’s other collegiate coaching experiences included stints at Centenary College (1999-02), University of Maryland Eastern Shore (1997-99), University of Texas-Pan American (1995-97) and Tuskegee University (1994-95).
During his three seasons at Fresno State, the Bulldogs won 50 games overall and won 20 games during the 2002-03 campaign.
Ormond also served five years as varsity boys basketball head coach at Edison High School in Fresno, Calif. (2006-10) where he racked up a 119-34 record, while winning three Valley Championships (2007, 2008, 2009). He was named the 2009 Fresno Bee Coach of the Year for Boys Basketball.
Ormond began his coaching career as an assistant boys basketball coach at Farragut High School (1993-94) in Chicago, Ill. and he later served as a coach and player development coordinator for Team Superstar in California.
Ormond was a two-year letterwinner at Texas-Pan American (now UTRGV) from 1989-91. He graduated from Texas-Pan American with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in 1991 and a master’s degree in education in 1993.
