Shantay Andrade Legans (born July 30, 1981) is an American college basketball coach who is currently men's basketball head coach at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

. Legans grew up in

Goleta, California Goleta ( ; ; Spanish for "schooner") is a city in southern Santa Barbara County, California, United States. It was incorporated as a city in 2002, after a long period as the largest unincorporated populated area in the county. As of the 200 ...

and played college basketball at

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

. He briefly played professional basketball in the Netherlands before beginning a coaching career. From 2007 to 2009, Legans was an assistant coach at the Laguna Blanca School. Legans then was an assistant coach at Eastern Washington under head coaches

Kirk Earlywine Kirk Sanford Earlywine (born July 4, 1964) is an American college basketball coach who was most recently an assistant coach at the University of Idaho. Earlywine was head coach at Pfeiffer University, Pfeiffer and Eastern Washington Eagles men' ...

and

Jim Hayford Jim Hayford (born May 5, 1967) is an American college basketball head coach who most recently coached at Seattle University. He previously coached at Eastern Washington University and Division III Whitworth University where he won about 80 percen ...

during a period where Eastern Washington turned around from a losing program to one of the top teams in the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

. Eastern Washington promoted Legans to head coach in 2017 after Hayford resigned for another job. As head coach, Legans led Eastern Washington to a Big Sky regular season title in 2020 and conference tournament title in 2021; he was the 2020 Big Sky Coach of the Year in men's basketball. On March 22, 2021, it was confirmed that Legans would leave Eastern Washington for the head coaching position at Portland.

Early life and education

Born in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city in and the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States. It is a coastal city located northwest of Los Angeles. The population was 110,763 at the ...

, Legans graduated from

Dos Pueblos High School Dos Pueblos High School is a public high school located in Goleta, California, northwest of Santa Barbara. Located adjacent to the foothills on the edge of the Goleta Valley in an area known as El Encanto Heights, it serves a student body of app ...

. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he played at guard for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

from 1999 to 2002. Legans then transferred to

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

to play for his godfather, Ray Lopes. After redshirting one season, he averaged 15.0 points and 5.6 assists as a senior for the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

in 2003–04. Legans graduated from Fresno State in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in African American studies.

Professional basketball career

Legans played professional basketball in Europe from 2005 to 2007. In the 2005–06 season, he played for

BSW Weert Basketball Stars Weert, commonly known as BSW, was a professional basketball team based in Weert, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1968 and played in the Dutch Basketball League. Home games of the team are played in the Sporthal Boshoven. The ...

of the

Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

, averaging 12.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists in 26 games. Legans signed with

Donar Thor (from ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Beside ...

(then named Hanzevast Capitals for sponsorship reasons), also in the Dutch Basketball League, in November 2006. Legans averaged 6.7 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 2006–07 with Hanzevast.

Coaching career

Early coaching career (2007–2017)

From 2007 to 2009, Legans was an assistant coach at Laguna Blanca School in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. In 2009, Legans joined

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington, United States. It shares its satellite campus in Spokane, Washington with Washington State University. Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided in ...

as a men's basketball assistant coach under

. Legans was retained by new head coach

in 2011. After five straight losing seasons, the 2014–15 Eastern Washington Eagles team went 26–9 with the

regular season title and won the 2015 Big Sky tournament for automatic qualification for the NCAA tournament. Eastern Washington followed that breakthrough season with two straight winning seasons with appearances in the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

College Basketball Invitational (CBI) tournaments.

Eastern Washington head coach (2017–2021)

On March 29, 2017, after Hayford resigned to become head coach at

Seattle University Seattle University (Seattle U or SU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and grad ...

, Legans was promoted to head coach at Eastern Washington. As head coach, Legans continued the success of Hayford, leading the 2017–18 Eagles to the program's fourth straight winning season at 20–15 and third straight CBI appearance. The 2018–19 team went 16–18 but finished as runners-up in the Big Sky tournament. The 2019–20 team improved to 23–8 with a Big Sky regular season title and program best 16 conference wins. On March 10, 2020, the Big Sky Conference named Legans its men's basketball coach of the year. Two days later, the Big Sky tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. In

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, Eastern Washington went 16–8, including 12–3 in the Big Sky for a second place tie in the conference standings. Eastern Washington went on to win the Big Sky tournament for the first time since 2015 and under Legans.

Portland head coach (2021–present)

On March 22, 2021, it was confirmed that Legans would accept the head coaching position at

Personal life

In 2014, Legans married Tatjana Sparavalo, a former Eastern Washington basketball player; they have two children.

Head coaching record

References

External links

*
Eastern Washington profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legans, Shantay 1981 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Ventura County, California California Golden Bears men's basketball players Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball coaches Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball players High school basketball coaches in California Sportspeople from Ventura, California Sportspeople from Goleta, California American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands Donar (basketball club) players BSW (basketball club) players Dutch Basketball League players Dos Pueblos High School alumni