Cody Arlyn Toppert (born January 10, 1983) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and former player. He is currently the head coach for the

Capital City Go-Go The Capital City Go-Go are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Washington, D.C., and are affiliated with the Washington Wizards. The Go-Go play their home games at the CareFirst Arena. The team is owned by Monum ...

team in the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

High school career

Toppert was born in

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and attended the

Albuquerque Academy Albuquerque Academy, known locally as simply the Academy, is an independent, co-educational day school for grades 6-12 located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The school is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest

(1998–2001), where he was a two-time USA Today All-American. He was named New Mexico's 2001 Player of the Year, while earning first team all-city, district, and state honors, while twice being named the District Most Valuable Player. During his varsity career, Toppert was invited to play in the

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

ABCD Camp The ABCD Basketball Camp was a youth basketball camp founded by Sonny Vaccaro that was held from 1984 to 2006. The camp gathered the highest ranked high school players of the United States, and was considered one of the top events of high school ...

and was named the top shooting guard at the Five-Star Basketball Camp. Toppert's father, Bob, mother, Linda, and brother, Chad, all played basketball for the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

in Albuquerque.

College career

Toppert went on to star at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

(2001–2005) where he was a four-year starter under coach

Steve Donahue Steve Donahue (born May 21, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who was most recently the head coach of the Penn Quakers men's basketball team. He also served as head coach at Boston College and Cornell. Background Donahue is a na ...

. He finished his college career as 9th all-time at Cornell in career scoring with 1,232 points, first in career three-pointers made (237), and second in all-time games played (108). Toppert is sixth in

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

history in total three-point field goals made.

Professional career

Upon graduation in 2005, Toppert became the first ever player allocated to the NBDL's

Albuquerque Thunderbirds Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County. Founded in 1706 as ' by Santa Fe de Nuevo México gover ...

, coached by former

NBA Defensive Player of the Year The NBA Defensive Player of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the best defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of 124 sportswriters and b ...

Michael Cooper Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956), nicknamed "Coop", is an American basketball coach and former player. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers during his entire career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning five NBA champ ...

. In his first season, Toppert helped guide the Thunderbirds to their first ever D-League championship. Following his success, Toppert chose to play overseas, where he played in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

for the

Taranaki Mountainairs The Taranaki Airs are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Pl ...

, leading the league in scoring at 22.1 points per game. He then moved on to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, playing in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

for FC Barreirense, where he averaged 12.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game, carrying his club to their first ever appearance in the

Cup of Portugal A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened Hemisphere (geometry), hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, me ...

's final four. Toppert also led the organization to its first ever appearance in the final eight of the Taca De Liga Cofidis. Toppert played the 2007–08 season for the Great Falls Explorers of the CBA under former NBA All-Star

Scott Wedman Scott Dean Wedman (born July 29, 1952) is an American former professional basketball player who played thirteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted by the Kansas City-Omaha Kings with the sixth pick in the first ...

. He averaged 16ppg, 3rpg, 3apg and 1.5spg, and was three times named to the honor roll for CBA Player of the Week. In 2009, he was signed by

MEG Göttingen Meg is a feminine given name, often a short form of Margaret, Megan, Megumi (Japanese), etc. It may refer to: People *Meg (singer) (born 1980), Japanese singer *Meg Baird, American musician *Meg Bateman, Scottish writer * Meg Bellamy, British act ...

of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

. In 2010 Toppert moved to BC Wiessenhorn, where he averaged 19 points per game, 6.5 rebounds and 2 assists. In summer 2010, he signed for

Plymouth Raiders Plymouth Raiders are a basketball team based in Plymouth, England, currently competing in Division 3 of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. Founded in 1983 through a merger between two local basketball clubs, ...

of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) was a men's professional basketball sports league, league in Great Britain. Since its establishment in 1987 the BBL represented the highest level of basketball competition within the United Kingdom. The orga ...

. After one year in England, Toppert signed for Fulgor Libertas Forli of Italy before moving to Spain with

Club Ourense Baloncesto Club Ourense Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to today by its sponsorship name of Río Ourense Termal, is a professional basketball team based in Ourense, Spain. The team currently plays in league LEB Oro. History Founded in 1978 as Club ...

. He would go on to complete his career with Basquet Mallorca

Bàsquet Mallorca Club Bàsquet Mallorquí, also known as Bàsquet Mallorca was a professional basketball team based in Inca, Balearic Islands, Spain. History Bàsquet Mallorca was founded in 2008 as a merger of two teams from Balearic Islands: * Club Bàsquet In ...

LEB Oro The Primera FEB, formerly known as LEB or LEB Oro, is the second basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system after the Liga ACB. It is run by the Spanish Basketball Federation, FEB. The FEB leagues are divided into three categorie ...

, Spanish second division.

Coaching career

After retiring, Toppert spent two years as the Director of Basketball Development and coach for ELEV, 8 Sports Institute in Delray Beach, Fla., where during the offseason he also trained players preparing for the NBA Pre Draft and international play. Additionally, he coached at numerous camps and clinics across the country, including the NBA Pre Draft Combine in 2013 and 2014. For a brief period, Toppert was an assistant coach at Scottsdale Christian Academy. While at ELEV8, Toppert amassed a 101–19 record in 3 seasons. On October 14, 2015, Toppert was hired by the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won f ...

as an assistant coach. On November 2, 2017, Toppert was named head coach of the

Northern Arizona Suns The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play as the Long ...

, shortly before the start of their first season in the

. In his official G League coaching debut, the Suns lost to the Agua Caliente Clippers, 126–118. However, during his tenure, he managed to have five Northern Arizona Suns players the chance to enter the NBA (again), three of which being promotions to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

. Northern Arizona also made 14.9 three-pointers per game under Toppert, which led the league and would rank 1st in NBA History. After leading the G-League in NBA call-ups in his first season with Northern Arizona, he was promoted to an assistant coaching position with the

. However, after putting up a 19–63 record up in Phoenix under head coach

Igor Kokoškov Igor Stefan Kokoškov ( sr-Cyrl, Игор Стефан Кокошков; born 17 December 1971) is a Serbian professional basketball coach. He had spent 19 years in the NBA as an assistant coach, with a brief stint as head coach for the Phoenix ...

, Igor Kokoškov was let go, leading Toppert to accept a position on the staff of Penny Hardaway at the University of Memphis. Coach Toppert has worked with 3 NBA All-Stars, 12 players selected in the NBA Draft and developed the 3 of the 4 highest paid undrafted players in NBA History. On June 10, 2019, Toppert was added as an assistant coach on the

Memphis Tigers men's basketball The Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represents the University of Memphis in NCAA Division I men's college basketball. The Tigers have competed in the American Athletic Conference since 2013. As of 2020, the Tigers had the 26th highest winnin ...

team, replacing Sam Mitchell on head coach

Penny Hardaway Anfernee Deon "Penny" Hardaway (born July 18, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Memphis Tigers men's team in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Hardaway played colle ...

's staff. The Tigers finished 1st in Opponent FG% on defense, and Toppert supervised the development of James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa. Toppert supervised and tracked their performance using LUCEO's Sports PD App, which he helped develop in his time with the Suns. Toppert has also created and managed the Tigers analytics program, which is considered to be among the most advanced in college basketball. On November 23, 2021, Toppert was selected to the Athletic's 40 under 40 list of rising stars in college basketball. The 2022 Tigers advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament falling to Gonzaga. In April 2022, Toppert was announced as an addition to Matt McMahon's staff at LSU. On June 26, 2020, Toppert was announced as the head coach of

Eberlein Drive Eberlein Drive is an American basketball team that participates in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual winner-take-all single-elimination tournament. The team has participated in the tournament since its 2014 inaugural playing. The roster ...

The Basketball Tournament 2020 The Basketball Tournament 2020 was the seventh edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament. The tournament, involving 24 teams, started on July 4 and continued through the championship game on Jul ...

. On September 21, 2023, Toppert became the head coach of the

of the

References

External links