Abilene Christian University Men’s basketball and head coach, Joe Golding, announced the addition of Jon Trilli to their coaching staff as an assistant coach. Trilli, who was with the Wildcats in their 2018-19 Southland tournament championship season, returns to ACU after a year at Odessa College where he served as an assistant in the 2019-20 season. In his single season with the Wranglers, Trilli helped lead the team to a 14-16 record with a 7-9 mark in conference play.
Trilli will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Wildcats. “His resume speaks for itself,” explained Golding. “He was at Midwestern State with Nelson Haggerty (North Texas), Arkansas Little Rock with Chris Beard (Texas Tech), North Texas with Grant McCasland, and is coming from Odessa where he worked with Kris Baumann. I have a great amount of respect for these coaches and I know Jon has learned a lot in his time with them as well as the year he spent here at ACU.”
Prior to his first stent with the Wildcats, Trilli spent one season with the Mean Green of North Texas as the Director of Basketball Operations for the 2017-18 season. In that season he was part of a coaching staff that led UNT to a 20-win season and a CBI championship. Before that, he spent two season at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as a video coordinator in 2015-16 and the DBO in 2016-17. In two years with the Trojans the team went 45-22, including a 30-5 season that saw the team win a Sun Belt championship and reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Trilli got his coaching start at his alma mater, Midwestern State, an NCAA Division II member of the Lone Star Conference, where he spent four years as a graduate assistant and then an assistant coach. In all four seasons with Mustangs he helped the team to an NCAA Tournament appearance, going as far as the Eilite Eight in 2012. Trilli was a member of the Mustangs as a player from 2007-11 and graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Sport and Fitness Management. He earned his master’s degree in Sports Administration from MSU while serving as a coach.
“My family and I are excited to be back in Abilene,” Trilli stated. “It’s a great time to be at ACU, Coach Golding and his staff have done a great job of changing the culture and moving the program in the right direction. I am glad to be a part of that again.”
Coach Golding also expressed his excitement to have Jon back on his staff again saying, “we are extremely excited to have Jon back. He was a part of our team during one of the best seasons in ACU history. He did a tremendous job working with our staff and players that year. He has been in this business for a long time ad has worked with some really good coaches. We our fortunate to have him, his wife Jordan, and his son Jaxson back with our program.”
