Richmond men’s basketball head coach Chris Mooney announced Will Gipe as the team’s newest assistant coach and promotions for staff members Mark McGonigal and Darius Stokes Tuesday. McGonigal has added Director of Recruiting to his title and Stokes will be the team’s new Director of Program Development.
Gipe, McGonigal, and Stokes helped lead the Spiders to the 2022 Atlantic 10 Championship, the second in school history, and a win over Big Ten-champion Iowa in the First Round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Richmond finished 24-13 in 2021-22, the fourth-most wins in a season in program history.
“Will, Mark, and Darius were integral to our success last season and have more than earned their new roles and responsibilities,” said Richmond head coach Chris Mooney. “Will has played a significant role in our program since he arrived at Richmond six years ago, and I am confident he is going to be a tremendous coach.”
“Recruiting is at the heart of everything we do, and having Mark direct all of our internal recruiting operations will ensure that we are finding the right student-athletes to become the next generation of Spiders. In his first season at Richmond, Darius developed a tremendous rapport with our players and I know he will do a great job of helping our Spiders navigate the demands of being a student-athlete at UR.”
Gipe, 28, will be the second-youngest assistant coach in the Atlantic 10, behind Brian Steele at UMass. He has been a member of the Richmond staff for the last six seasons, originally joining the program as Video Coordinator in 2016. He was promoted to Director of Program Development in 2019 and added Director of Recruiting responsibilities in 2021. Gipe will continue to direct the team’s non-conference scheduling process in addition to focusing on recruiting, scouting, and player development. Gipe came to Richmond following five years at Virginia Tech: three as a student manager and two as a graduate assistant.
McGonigal will add Director of Recruiting to his current Director of Basketball Operations title and take over coordination of all aspects of Richmond basketball’s recruiting operations, including campus visits and the creation of recruiting materials. McGonigal has served as the team’s Director of Basketball Operations over the last three seasons following three seasons as the team’s Director of Program Development. He returned to Richmond in 2016 after four years as a coach for the National Collegiate Scouting Association. McGonigal played basketball at UR under Chris Mooney from 2005-09, appearing in 27 games for the Spiders.
Stokes has been elevated to Director of Program Development after serving as Richmond’s Video Coordinator last season. Stokes joined Richmond last August following four years on the staff at Fairleigh Dickinson, where he finished his college playing career in 2015 after spending four seasons at Iowa. In his new role, Stokes will serve as the team’s liaison to the Academics, Business & Compliance offices of Richmond Athletics while managing internal scheduling and supervising student managers.
https://richmondspiders.com/news/2022/4/12/gipe-named-mens-basketball-assistant-coach.aspx
