On Tuesday morning, Fairleigh Dickinson men’s basketball head coach Greg Herenda announced that Peter Lappas, the program’s director of basketball operations for the past three seasons, has been promoted to assistant coach.
“I am extremely proud and happy to be able to promote Pete Lappas to be my next assistant coach here at Fairleigh Dickinson University,” said Herenda. “From day one, Pete has put his entire heart and soul into our program and he truly deserves the opportunity to be on the court and out recruiting as much as anyone. This is a great day for Pete — but an even better day for our basketball program.”
Lappas has been a key contributor to the program’s recent success, which includes a 2016 NEC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
Since joining the Knights prior to the start of the 2014-15 campaign, Lappas has served as the team’s director of basketball operations. In his role, Lappas handled the day-to-day operations of the men’s basketball program, including travel accommodations, student-athletes’ academic assistance, and other management tasks to ensure that the program runs smoothly.
“Words can’t express how excited I am to take on my new role as assistant coach,” Lappas said. “I am ready to work tirelessly every day to help maintain and improve our program in an already special era of FDU basketball. Coach Herenda’s energy is contagious and I am looking forward to continuing to learn from him as I move forward in my new role.”
Lappas came to FDU after serving two years as a graduate assistant manager at Temple. During his first year in Philadelphia, the Owls finished 24-10 (11-5 Atlantic 10) and made the NCAA Tournament, where they defeated NC State, before falling to Indiana by four points in the third round. Lappas graduated from Temple last spring with a master’s degree in Sport and Recreation Management.
A 2012 graduate of Boston College, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications, Lappas has coached at some prestigious summer camps, including Jim Calhoun’s camp at Connecticut, Gary Williams’ camp at Maryland, Mike Rice’s camp at Rutgers and Jay Wright’s camp at Villanova.
Lappas is the son of Steve Lappas, who was the former head coach at Villanova (1992-2001) and Massachusetts (2001-05) and now current college basketball analyst for CBS Sports Network.
The Knights’ newest assistant will assume his new position immediately as the the team gears up for the 2017-18 campaign, which begins on November 10 at Seton Hall. The men’s basketball 2017-18 non-conference schedule is set to be released later this week.
http://www.fduknights.com/news/2017/8/8/lappas-promoted-to-mens-basketball-assistant-coach.aspx
