Ed Schilling - Men's Basketball Coach - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Photo by: AP

Ed Schilling

Title:
Assistant Coach
Years at GCU:
4th
Email:
edmund.schilling@gcu.edu
Alma Mater:
Miami (Ohio) (1988)

Road to GCU
YEAR	SCHOOL	POSITION
1985-88	Miami (Ohio)	Student-Athlete
1988-91	Western Boone HS (Ind.)	Head Coach
1991-95	Logansport HS (Ind.)	Head Coach
1995-96	UMass	Asst. Coach
1996-97	New Jersey Nets	Asst. Coach
1997-03	Wright State	Head Coach
2003-05	Memphis	Asst. Coach
2007-13	Adidas Nations	Head Coach
2009-13	Park Tudor HS (Ind.)	Head Coach
2009-13	St. Vincent’s Sports Performance	NBA Readiness
2013-17	UCLA	Asst. Coach
2017-19	Indiana	Asst. Coach
2020-pres	GCU	Asst. Coach

Ed Schilling is in his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Grand Canyon men's basketball program for the 2023-24 season.

Schilling is a part of a Lopes coaching staff that has remained fully intact since being brought aboard for Bryce Drew's first season as head coach in 2020-21. In that three-year span, the Lopes have made two NCAA Tournament appearances by winning the 2021 and 2023 WAC Tournaments.

In his first season with the Lopes, Schilling helped lead GCU to its first WAC regular-season championship, first WAC tournament championship and first trip to the NCAA tournament. Schilling and the Lopes coaching staff inherited a 13-17 squad and went 17-7 in 2020-21.

The Lopes staff was charged with replacing GCU's two leading scorers heading into their second season. Behind the development of Jovan Blacksher Jr. and the addition of Holland Woods II, the Lopes posted a 92 NET for the top mark in program history with a 23-8 mark in 2021-22. GCU's best win by metrics in its D-I program history came on Dec. 18 in the Colangelo Classic as GCU topped previously undefeated San Francisco.

In 2022-23, GCU made an improbable run through the 2023 WAC Tournament by winning four games in four days as the No. 5 seed to become the lowest seeded team to win the WAC Tournament since 2001. The Lopes made their second ever NCAA Tournament appearance and were paired up against Gonzaga.

Schilling arrived at GCU in the summer of 2020 by way of UCLA and Indiana. He was on the Hoosiers' staff for the first two seasons of the Archie Miller era, helping lead Indiana to an appearance in the NIT quarterfinals in the second year. He was a key part of the Hoosiers' recruiting efforts which resulted in a 2018 class that was ranked in the national top 10 with future NBA draft pick Romeo Langford.

Schilling worked alongside Steve Alford for the first four years of Alford's tenure at UCLA, a stretch when the Bruins went 96-45 (.681) and made three Sweet Sixteen appearances. During his time in Westwood, the Bruins sent nine players to the NBA, including Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Anderson, Norman Powell and Kevon Looney.

"To join Coach Drew at GCU is a tremendous opportunity," Schilling said at the time of his hiring. "His experience in playing and coaching in the NCAA tournament is fantastic. But even more exciting to me is the character that he possesses. His ability to relate to his players and sincerely care about them is second to none."

A Lebanon, Indiana, native, Schilling has spent 15 seasons on a Division I bench with a six-year stint as Wright State head coach. He teamed with John Calipari for four seasons at three stops: UMass, the New Jersey Nets and Memphis. His first collegiate coaching season resulted in UMass posting a 35-2 record and making a Final Four appearance. Schilling went from a high school coach to a UMass assistant to the bench of an NBA team in a span of 310 days, becoming the youngest assistant in the NBA at the time.

After four years as the starting point guard at Miami (Ohio), Schilling still holds single-game (17) and career (629) assist records for the RedHawks. His teams made NCAA tournament appearances twice, narrowly missing overtime upsets over Maryland (one-point loss) and Iowa State (two-point loss).

"Ed has a very decorated history in basketball, from working alongside John Calipari to helping UCLA make three Sweet Sixteens," Drew said. "Player development is where Ed really excels in having trained 60 NBA players. His expertise in development will be a huge asset for our players."