Eastern Washington University Athletics

• 2019-20 BIG SKY CONFERENCE COACH OF THE YEAR

• Selected No. 11 by ESPN on its "40 Under 40" list of NCAA Division I coaches

 
Eastern men’s basketball coach Shantay Legans continued a bit of EWU history when he was announced on March 10, 2020, as Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year from balloting by the league’s 11 head coaches. The 2020-21 season will be his fourth as head coach and 12th overall at EWU after guiding EWU to finishes of 23-8 overall and 16-4 in the Big Sky in the 2019-20 season.

He becomes the fourth Eastern coach to earn the honor, and follows in their footsteps as Big Sky Conference champions. Steve Aggers was coach of the year in both 1998 and 2000, the latter honor coming after EWU won the regular season title. Ray Giacoletti (2004) and Jim Hayford (2015) were honored after their teams each followed regular season championships with titles in the Big Sky Conference Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
 
“I’m so humbled to receive the Big Sky Coach of the Year Award, especially among the group of outstanding coaches in this conference,” said Legans. “But make no mistake, this is a team award. Coaches are only as good as their players and staff, and I have an amazing group of guys who not only make my job easy, but a blast. Our players worked their butts off, and I have an amazing staff who also work tirelessly to get better every single day. They’ve all bought into the culture we’ve instilled since day one, and that’s the reason we are where we are today.”
 
More recently, in the spring of 2020, Legans was selected to ESPN's "40 Under 40" list of the top NCAA Division I basketball coaches under the age of 40. He was selected No. 11 -- eighth among head coaches -- in the list of coaches ranked by achievement and potential.

In addition, two of his assistants have been selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) on its Under Armour 30-under-30 squad. David Riley was honored in 2016-17, and Bobby Suarez was chosen to the squad in the 2019-20 school year. The honor recognized Riley and Suarez among a group of up and coming young coaches in men’s college basketball.
 
Legans is now 59-41 in his three years as head coach for a .590 winning percentage. In league games, he has directed EWU to 13, 12 and now 16 victories, winning 71 percent for a record of 41-17. Both percentages are currently the best among the eight men who have been head coaches in EWU’s tenure in the league, and his 41 league wins is the best three-year stretch in school history.
 
An Eastern assistant for eight previous seasons, Legans has been a part of all but one of EWU’s five seasons of at least 20 wins and all four of EWU’s campaigns with at least 13 league victories. He’s coached in a total of 360 games in 10-plus years at EWU, with a 186-174 record in those games (.517), including a 115-89 league mark (.564).
 
Legans recorded the most wins by an Eastern rookie head coach at the NCAA Division I level with 20 in the 2018-19 season. After EWU’s 16-18 finish in 2018-19, he has been a part of Eastern teams from the 2014-15 through 2019-20 seasons which have win totals of 26, 18, 22, 20, 16 and 23 games.
 
The four 20-victory seasons are among the top five win totals in EWU’s 37-year history in NCAA Division I. The combined 125 wins in six seasons, 102 wins in five, 86 in four, 66 in three and 44 in two are also the most since EWU became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season. The same can be said of EWU’s stretch of league victories -- 14, 10, 13, 13, 12, 16 -- in that six-year span.
 
Legans has now coached in 16 Big Sky Conference Tournament games, with a record of 10-6 in six appearances (6-2 in two appearances as head coach). Eastern’s 2014-15 squad won the title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament with a trio of victories in Missoula, Montana. Included was a come-from-behind 69-65 win over the host Grizzlies in the championship game.
 
One of the best seasons in school history came to a screeching halt on March 12, 2020, when cancellations of both the Big Sky Conference and NCAA Division I tournaments dashed EWU’s promising postseason hopes in the 2019-20 campaign.
 
The COVID-19 virus wiped out the league tournament shortly before the Eagles were to play their first game versus Sacramento State. A few hours after that, the NCAA Tournament was canceled as well, ending EWU’s season.
 
The Eagles had their-second highest win total in 37 years as a NCAA Division I member with 23 victories, and their 16 league triumphs were the most in their 33 years in the Big Sky. The Eagles finished sixth in the nation in scoring offense (80.9 per game) and were fourth in assists (17.5).
 
“Sports puts you on a roller-coaster, but usually it’s from your own will,” said Legans, whose team ended with a seven-game winning streak. “You have ups and downs from playing good or playing bad, and winning and losing games at the buzzer or by large margins. But this one was tough because it was out of our control. That was the hardest part.”
 
EWU took solace in that it was able to celebrate heartily on March 7 after the Eagles beat Weber State 78-69 to wrap-up the outright title. The world changed dramatically shortly after that, and ended a historic run by senior Mason Peatling, who won the Big Sky MVP award after averaging a double-double in 20 league outings.
 
“We felt so bad for our players, and for Mason for all the work he’s put in since his freshman year,” said Legans. “He put himself in a position to play in the NCAA Tournament and get 26 wins or more. He earned so much – he worked hard, set records and recovered from some injuries. Not being able to get that opportunity for he and his teammates was hard.”
 
Peatling also was a first team Academic All-America selection, and finished his career with 118 games played, 1,250 points, 725 rebounds, 112 blocked shots and a .555 field goal shooting percentage – all marks which rank in the top 12 in EWU history.
 
Peatling was a first team All-Big Sky selection, while junior Jacob Davison was picked for the second team and sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. was on the third squad.
 
“We were good and confident – just like our big brother in Spokane,” said Legans, referring to NCAA powerhouse Gonzaga. “We had the MVP and three players on the all-league team, and I think we had the freshman of the year. We handled business and put ourselves in a position to play in the NCAA Tournament. We felt good every time we stepped on the court, and they worked hard to get there.
 
 “I’ll remember how well this team came together and had the second-best season since we’ve been Division I,” said Legans. “Seeing these players together all year was a joy, and we know what they could have done if the season had continued. I think they are probably already working on their own 30-for-30 documentary. They were great young men fighting for a common goal, and our seniors did a great job as leaders. We’ll remember this team for what it was, and it was great to be a part of this team.”
 
Peatling was on fire during the league season, closing with averages of 18.5 points on 56 percent shooting from the field, 10.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.7 blocked shots and 0.8 steals. He had 11 double-doubles in his last 15 games. Peatling was honored three times during the year as Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, and Davison earned the honor twice.
 
Eastern’s school-record 16 Big Sky wins included sweeps over seven of the league’s 10 other teams, and a split versus Idaho State and Idaho. Eastern was swept by Montana, which had won the two previous regular season and tournament titles. The Eagles had just two seniors – Peatling and Tyler Kidd – so EWU has high aspirations for 2020 and beyond.
 
“They’ve put our program in a position to win the outright championship for only the second time in Eastern history, and to get to the NCAA Tournament,” Legans added. “We’ll hold our hat on that and strive to be ready for next year and the future.”
 
In the 2018-19 season, Eastern defeated all 10 Big Sky Conference foes en route to finishing 12-8 in league play and finishing in sole possession of third. Decimated by injuries, Eastern was 1-9 at one point before winning 13 of their last 19 games to finish 16-18. Eastern lost in the championship game of the Big Sky Conference Tournament for the second-straight season.
 
His 20 wins as a rookie are the most by a first-year Eastern coach in EWU’s NCAA Division I era, besting Ray Giacoletti with 17 in the 2000-01 season. Joe Folda also won 17 games in 1982-83 as an interim head coach during Eastern’s rise from NAIA to NCAA Division I. Thus, you have to go back to the 1942-43 season when Bob Brumblay won 27 games in his debut season to find a first-year Eastern coach with more than 18 victories, which is also the only time it’s happened.
 
Among the victories in his first season was a 67-61 triumph at Stanford to break EWU’s 21-game losing streak versus Pacific-12 Conference foes. Interestingly, he played for California for three seasons from 2000-03 and the Bears lost to the Cardinal in all five meetings.
 
Legans was announced as EWU’s new head basketball coach on March 29, 2017. Legans is the 18th coach in Eastern history, and directed the Eagles to a 13-5 record in the Big Sky Conference and appearance in the BSC Tournament championship game in his debut season.
 
He was an Eastern assistant for eight years before becoming EWU’s 10th coach at the NCAA Division I level. Legans spent six years on the staff of Jim Hayford (now head coach at Seattle), and two previous seasons under former head coach Kirk Earlywine. Legans was associate head coach under Hayford for the final three of those eight seasons.
 
A former player at Cal and Fresno State, Legans assisted Hayford in recruiting, scouting and game preparation for the Eagles, as well as on-the-floor coaching and the development of EWU’s backcourt players. Legans originally came to Eastern in the 2009-10 season under Earlywine, and was retained by Hayford when he took over as head coach in the 2011-12 season.
 
While at EWU, the Eagles have had their first back-to-back-to-back national tournament postseason appearances at the Division I level and extended it to four-straight in the 2017-18 season. Included was Eastern’s first-ever postseason national tournament win (79-72 over Pepperdine in the College Basketball Invitational in 2016). He helped coach Eastern to a 26-9 record overall, Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament titles and a NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2014-15 season.
 
He also was instrumental in the development of of Big Sky Conference all-time leading scorer Bogdan Bliznyuk, who left EWU in 2018 as the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year and an honorable mention All-America selection.  Bliznyuk played in the NABC All-Star game at the “Final Four” after finishing with 2,169 career points and breaking a total of 16 school records.
 
Bliznyuk followed in the footsteps of Jacob Wiley, who was a graduate transfer at EWU in 2016-17 and was also Big Sky MVP and an honorable mention All-America selection. Wiley eventually signed a contract and played with the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA, and also saw action for the Long Island Nets in the G-League. Both Wiley and Bliznyuk excelled at the Portsmouth Invitational pre-draft tournament.

“Bogdan is a prime example of what Eastern Washington Basketball is all about,” Legans said. “He is a humble, hard-working and dedicated player on and off the court. What he has been able to accomplish for himself and our program is truly remarkable.”
 
Besides coaching Bliznyuk at Eastern, Legans has helped develop numerous All-Big Sky Conference guards in Glen Dean, Cliff Colimon, Tyler Harvey, Austin McBroom and Jacob Davison. Dean was the league’s Freshman of the Year in 2010 and an All-BSC guard in 2011; Colimon earned first-team all-league and All-Big Sky Conference Tournament honors as a senior in 2012.
 
Legans helped develop Harvey from an Eastern walk-on to NBA draftee, including Harvey’s transition to a starting position late in the 2012-13 season. Harvey averaged 16.5 points on 55 percent shooting from the field (including 20-of-44 3-point attempts) in EWU’s last eight games that year after scoring just 17 points in the first 13 games he played.

In the 2013-14 season, Harvey was a first team All-Big Sky selection and earned second team honors on the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 6 team – EWU’s first player honored on that team since Rodney Stuckey in 2007. He followed that by leading NCAA Division I in scoring (23.1) and 3-pointers (4.0) per game in the 2014-15 season, and was eventually taken in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic as the 51st pick overall.

Harvey also earned honorable mention All-America honors and was a first team Academic All-America selection. Harvey was also MVP of the Big Sky Conference Tournament. The year after, McBroom earned first team All-Big Sky and NABC All-District 6 honors in his lone season as an Eagle.

Most recently, Davison earned third team All-Big Sky honors in the 2018-19 season despite missing the last 10 games with an ankle injury. Forward Jesse Hunt earned first team honors in 2018-19 and forward Mason Peatling was a second team choice.
 
In 2019-20, Peatling was the Big Sky’s MVP and a first team All-Big Sky selection, Davison earned a spot on the second team and sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. was on the third team. Peatling and Davison both earned NABC All-District 6 accolades, and Peatling was a first team Academic All-American as well.
 
Prior to coming to Eastern, Legans was as an assistant coach for two seasons at Laguna Blanca High School in Santa Barbara, Calif. Previously, he was a student assistant coach for Ray Lopes at Fresno State for two seasons before embarking upon a more than three-year career playing professional basketball in Europe. Legans also has experience coaching various AAU teams in California.
 
He played at California for three seasons from 1999-2002, helping lead the Golden Bears to a collective record of 61-35 (.635). He then spent his senior season (2003-04) at Fresno State, which finished with a 14-15 record overall and a 10-8 mark in the Western Athletic Conference. He averaged 15.0 points and 5.6 assists while averaging more than 38 minutes per game in his final collegiate season. He was team captain at Fresno State and received his bachelor’s degree in African American studies in 2004.
 
Formerly from Goleta, Calif., and Dos Pueblos High School, Legans averaged 4.4 assists, 10.4 points and 1.4 steals per game during his 124-game collegiate career, making 83.9 percent of his free throws, 40.2 percent of his field goals and 36.6 percent of his three-point shots.
 
While at Dos Pueblos High School, he was named league MVP and Player of the Year for Santa Barbara County. He also earned All-California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) honors, and was rated as the seventh-best point guard in the country by Recruiting USA and the No. 19 point guard by PrepStar. His high school team advanced to the CIF Playoffs each of his four seasons on the squad.
 
Because of his accomplishments and contributions on and off the basketball court, Legans was part of the third class of inductees into the Santa Barbara Court of Champions on June 5, 2016, in Santa Barbara, Calif. Among the other previous inductees are basketball legends Jerry West, Jamaal Wilkes, Ben Howland, Gary Colson, Gary Cunningham and Brian Shaw.
 
Legans was born July 30, 1981, in Ventura, Calif. He was married on May 10, 2014, to former Eastern women’s basketball player Tatjana Sparavalo. Their daughter, Zola Lee, was born June 16, 2016, and their son, Maksim (Mak) Lee, was born March 23, 2018.

 
 

Shantay Legans Coaching Career at EWU . . .

Year	Head Coach	Overall	Pct.	Conference
2019-2020***	Shantay Legans	23-8	.742	16-4/1st
2018-2019%%%	Shantay Legans	16-18	.471	12-8/3rd
2017-2018===	Shantay Legans	20-15	.571	13-5/t-3rd
Totals (3 seasons as head coach)	59-41	.590	41-17 .707
Year	Head Coach	Overall	Pct.	Conference
2016-17+++	Jim Hayford	22-12	.647	13-5/2nd
2015-16!!!	Jim Hayford	18-16	.529	10-8/t-5th
2014-15###	Jim Hayford	26-9	.743	14-4/t-1st
2013-14	Jim Hayford	15-16	.484	10-10/t-6th
2012-13	Jim Hayford	10-21	.323	7-13/8th
2011-2012^^^	Jim Hayford	15-17	.469	8-8/4th
2010-2011^^^	Kirk Earlywine	10-21	.333	7-13/t-5th
2009-2010	Kirk Earlywine	9-21	.300	5-11/7th
Totals (8 seasons as an assistant)	127-133	.488	74-72 .507
Totals at Eastern (11 seasons)	186-174	.517	115-89 .564

***Big Sky Conference Regular Season Champions (outright) & school record for victories in Big Sky (16). Season was canceled during league tournament because of Covid-19 virus). Best six-year (125 wins) in EWU’s 37 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I.

%%%Participant in Big Sky Tournament championship game; Best five-year (102) stretch as a member of NCAA Division I.

=== CBI Tournament participant; Big Sky Tournament runner-up; best four-year (86) stretch as a member of NCAA Division I.

+++CBI Tournament participant & Big Sky Tournament quarterfinalist; Most back-to-back-to-back wins (66) as a member of NCAA Division I.

!!!CBI Tournament participant & Big Sky Tournament quarterfinalist; Most back-to-back wins (44) as a member of NCAA Division I, including first post-season victory as a member of DI.

###NCAA Tournament participant, Big Sky Conference Tournament Champions & regular season co-Champions; School record for victories in NCAA Division I (26).

^^^Season concluded with Big Sky Conference Tournament berth.