Veteran basketball coach Jim Shaw has joined the Saint Mary’s College men’s basketball staff as special assistant to the head coach, Gaels head coach Randy Bennett revealed today.
Shaw, who spent the last nine seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Washington, will assist Bennett in a variety of capacities related to the overall operation of the Saint Mary’s basketball program.
“Jim Shaw has had a tremendous amount of success as a basketball coach and I am looking forward to having his experience and professionalism help our program,” said Bennett. “I’ve known Jim for a long time. He has worked for some great coaches and helped every team he worked with achieve some of those programs’ best seasons. We are fortunate to have him on our basketball staff.”
He re-joined head coach Lorenzo Romar at Washington in May, 2004 after the two worked together for half a season in 1999 at Saint Louis – the same period during which Bennett was on the Billikens’ staff.
“I’ve known Randy since we were both in graduate school and we’ve always kept in touch,” said Shaw, who attended graduate school at Idaho State at the same time Bennett served in a similar capacity at the University of Idaho. “I’ve maintained a familiarity with Saint Mary’s because of Randy. To be able to join this staff and be a part of what this program has accomplished is really special.”
During his time at Washington, the Huskies won two conference regular season titles, three Pac-10 Tournament championships and made five NCAA tournament appearances. He was pivotal in the Huskies’ run to their first Pac-10 Tournament championship in 2005 and first ever No. 1 seed into the NCAA Tournament. UW went 208-100 during Shaw’s time in Seattle.
Shaw served the previous five seasons at Oklahoma on Kelvin Sampson’s staff. He helped the Sooners to a 131-37 record, three Big 12 Tournament titles, a Final Four appearance in 2002 and an Elite Eight berth in 2003.
Prior to his time with Romar at Saint Louis, Shaw served as assistant coach at Portland for five seasons, from 1994-95 through 1998-99. He helped the Pilots to a pair of 20-win campaigns and a 1996 NCAA Tournament berth, the school’s first since 1959.
Prior to arriving at Portland, Shaw worked two years as an assistant at Montana State under head coach Mick Durham. He helped the 1993-94 Bobcats to a 16-11 record and fourth-place Big Sky Conference finish, their best in seven years. Three of Shaw’s recruits went on to earn All-Big Sky accolades.
As an assistant at Southern Utah for a season (1991-92) under head coach Neil Roberts, Shaw was instrumental in leading the team to a 20-8 record, the school’s best mark in its history as a Division I program.
Shaw coached at Oregon State during the 1990 and 1991 seasons. The nationally-ranked 1990 Beaver team, featuring point guard Gary Payton, won the Pac-10 championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Shaw’s first assistant coaching assignment came in 1986-87 at Idaho State. He helped lead the Bengals to an impressive run to the Big Sky Tournament championship and the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth. That was ISU’s first NCAA appearance in 10 years.
A 1985 graduate of Western Oregon State College, Shaw was an NAIA honorable mention All-American and district MVP runner-up as a senior. He earned his master’s degree in athletic administration from Idaho State in 1986.
A native of Chimacum, Wash., Shaw attended Chimacum High School where he was an all-state performer in both basketball and football.
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