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| Coach Shay working with the Streaks this summer. |
Former University of Tennessee men’s basketball assistant coach Jason Shay was named an assistant coach at the University of North Dakota on Tuesday.
“We are extremely excited to have Jason and his family join ours here at UND,” coach Brian Jones said in a school release. “He is a tireless worker and brings great credentials to our program. We are blessed to have a great staff for the upcoming season that will continue to develop and mentor our players.”
Shay was on Bruce Pearl’s staff at UT for six seasons. He was dismissed along with Pearl and fellow assistants Steve Forbes and Tony Jones in March 2011 amid a recruiting violation and cover-up. Forbes, Jones and Shay all received one-year show-cause penalties from the NCAA which expired last August.
Shay spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach on Forbes’ staff at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Fla. Forbes was hired earlier this month as an assistant at Wichita State.
“I’m grateful to Coach Jones and very appreciative of Mr. Faison (athletic director Brian Faison) for allowing him to bring me on,” Shay said. “I look forward to the opportunity because this is an exciting time to be a part of this program.”Shay followed Pearl to Knoxville from Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he was first the director of basketball operations for two seasons (2001-03) before being elevated to a full-time assistant prior to the 2003-04 season.
Shay was a high school rival of Brian Jones as both prepped in west-central Illinois before going onto collegiate careers at Iowa and Northern Iowa, respectively.
“I have known Jason for a long time and could not be more thrilled to have him join our coaching staff,” Jones said. “He has a great basketball mind and his knowledge and experience will be a nice fit for us as we continue to grow at the Division I level.”
