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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Prudhomme returns 'home' as assistant coach
6/14/2024 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Role moves to court after spending past 4 seasons on staff that built Lopes success
When it came to Peyton Prudhomme's basketball career, he put family first.
For four years, Prudhomme was integral in making the Grand Canyon men's basketball program a successful family and often used the term "family" to emphasize the team culture. After a brief offseason departure to Pepperdine to elevate his coaching trek, Prudhomme made an Interstate 10 U-turn to reunite with GCU family as an assistant coach.
Lopes head coach Bryce Drew's trust and belief in Prudhomme brought him back to the Phoenix campus, where he helped GCU make three NCAA tournament appearances in the past four years.
"What made me want to return was getting the band back together," Prudhomme said. "That's the way Coach Drew put it. I'm getting the opportunity to be back, but on the floor this time around after all these years and these championships. I can come at it from an on-the-floor perspective with the guys who I've been with and helped recruit. I just feel so good about the decision. I'm coming back home."
Prudhomme, 29, is an original member of Drew's GCU staff, joining him in 2020 as the director of video for two years before being promoted to director of basketball operations in 2022 and chief of staff in 2023. No element of the thriving program went untouched by Prudhomme, whose handling of day-to-day operations covered scheduling, managers, equipment, video, camps, budget and travel.
A fixture on the bench's back row for GCU games, Prudhomme moves to an assistant coach role alongside fellow assistants Jermaine Kimbrough, Jake Lindsey, Marc Rodgers and Casey Shaw.
"In this role, I can do what I always wanted to do and build relationships with the guys and do it through being on the floor," Prudhomme said. "Whenever I was DOBO (director of basketball operations), I had a connection with the guys off the floor as a confidant. I was a life coach and now I can be a basketball coach too and still use my off-the-court experiences that I've had. Combining them both is going to be special for me and what I'm looking forward to."
Prudhomme, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, grew up amid basketball coaching royalty as the grandson of Dale Brown, the former 25-year LSU head coach who reached two Final Fours, coached Shaquille O'Neal and is enshrined in the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
The sport took him as a player to a Division I season with Northwestern State before he transferred to play at Texas Wesleyan, where he was part of the 2017 NAIA national champions. He also graduated from Texas Wesleyan in Mass Communications while making the Sooner Athletic Conference honor roll twice.
Prudhomme's professional career began as a graduate assistant at Baylor under head coach Scott Drew, the older brother of Bryce Drew. For two seasons, Prudhomme aided the Bears' rise to an elite program with video work, player development workouts and scouting. In his final season there, Baylor was No. 1 in the nation for five consecutive weeks and accumulated a 26-4 record before COVID-19 canceled the postseason.
That brought him to GCU to work for the younger Drew in Phoenix, where he spent time when he finished his high school playing career at Westwind Prep.
Beyond his basketball acumen and work ethic, Prudhomme has proven to be a relationship builder who helps form the competitive and Christian identities of the program. The staff has constructed a program that ascended to new levels with a 124-37 record in those four years, which were capped by the Lopes' first NCAA D-I tournament victory in March.
"Everyone knows that I love being in the gym and getting in the lab and forming those relationships," Prudhomme said. "The work kind of speaks for itself, what I've been able to do in the gym with some of these guys."
Prudhomme followed former GCU assistant coach Ed Schilling to Pepperdine, where the Waves named Schiiling head coach on April 2 and quickly assembled a staff with Prudhomme as one of the assistant coaches. Prudhomme hit the ground running with Schilling on recruiting and scheduling for the Waves until Drew offered the opportunity to remain a Lope and become an assistant coach this month.
"This is family," Prudhomme said. "Coach Jack (strength and conditioning coach Jordan Jackson), Coach Shaw, Coach Drew. We've been here from the start. Trey (former manager and graduate assistant Trey Miles) has been for a while. Asbjorn (former player and graduate assistant Asbjorn) Midtgaard was there in Year 1. We've got guys who have been there a long time, so it's like family. (Manager Matthew) Harvey. This is family first and foremost. Family always welcomes you back, so I have no fear."
For four years, Prudhomme was integral in making the Grand Canyon men's basketball program a successful family and often used the term "family" to emphasize the team culture. After a brief offseason departure to Pepperdine to elevate his coaching trek, Prudhomme made an Interstate 10 U-turn to reunite with GCU family as an assistant coach.Lopes head coach Bryce Drew's trust and belief in Prudhomme brought him back to the Phoenix campus, where he helped GCU make three NCAA tournament appearances in the past four years.
"What made me want to return was getting the band back together," Prudhomme said. "That's the way Coach Drew put it. I'm getting the opportunity to be back, but on the floor this time around after all these years and these championships. I can come at it from an on-the-floor perspective with the guys who I've been with and helped recruit. I just feel so good about the decision. I'm coming back home."
Prudhomme, 29, is an original member of Drew's GCU staff, joining him in 2020 as the director of video for two years before being promoted to director of basketball operations in 2022 and chief of staff in 2023. No element of the thriving program went untouched by Prudhomme, whose handling of day-to-day operations covered scheduling, managers, equipment, video, camps, budget and travel.A fixture on the bench's back row for GCU games, Prudhomme moves to an assistant coach role alongside fellow assistants Jermaine Kimbrough, Jake Lindsey, Marc Rodgers and Casey Shaw.
"In this role, I can do what I always wanted to do and build relationships with the guys and do it through being on the floor," Prudhomme said. "Whenever I was DOBO (director of basketball operations), I had a connection with the guys off the floor as a confidant. I was a life coach and now I can be a basketball coach too and still use my off-the-court experiences that I've had. Combining them both is going to be special for me and what I'm looking forward to."
Prudhomme, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, grew up amid basketball coaching royalty as the grandson of Dale Brown, the former 25-year LSU head coach who reached two Final Fours, coached Shaquille O'Neal and is enshrined in the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.The sport took him as a player to a Division I season with Northwestern State before he transferred to play at Texas Wesleyan, where he was part of the 2017 NAIA national champions. He also graduated from Texas Wesleyan in Mass Communications while making the Sooner Athletic Conference honor roll twice.
Prudhomme's professional career began as a graduate assistant at Baylor under head coach Scott Drew, the older brother of Bryce Drew. For two seasons, Prudhomme aided the Bears' rise to an elite program with video work, player development workouts and scouting. In his final season there, Baylor was No. 1 in the nation for five consecutive weeks and accumulated a 26-4 record before COVID-19 canceled the postseason.
That brought him to GCU to work for the younger Drew in Phoenix, where he spent time when he finished his high school playing career at Westwind Prep.
Beyond his basketball acumen and work ethic, Prudhomme has proven to be a relationship builder who helps form the competitive and Christian identities of the program. The staff has constructed a program that ascended to new levels with a 124-37 record in those four years, which were capped by the Lopes' first NCAA D-I tournament victory in March."Everyone knows that I love being in the gym and getting in the lab and forming those relationships," Prudhomme said. "The work kind of speaks for itself, what I've been able to do in the gym with some of these guys."
Prudhomme followed former GCU assistant coach Ed Schilling to Pepperdine, where the Waves named Schiiling head coach on April 2 and quickly assembled a staff with Prudhomme as one of the assistant coaches. Prudhomme hit the ground running with Schilling on recruiting and scheduling for the Waves until Drew offered the opportunity to remain a Lope and become an assistant coach this month.
"This is family," Prudhomme said. "Coach Jack (strength and conditioning coach Jordan Jackson), Coach Shaw, Coach Drew. We've been here from the start. Trey (former manager and graduate assistant Trey Miles) has been for a while. Asbjorn (former player and graduate assistant Asbjorn) Midtgaard was there in Year 1. We've got guys who have been there a long time, so it's like family. (Manager Matthew) Harvey. This is family first and foremost. Family always welcomes you back, so I have no fear."
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