The Shantay Legans Era

DoubleDipper wrote:Coach Legs talking to Canzano today:  Portland is a "Sleeping Giant."

https://soundcloud.com/kxtg-the-bald-faced-truth/bft-interview-shantay-legans

...battling Tatjana at ping-pong.  

Shantay Legans wrote:I put them through so much, and they stuck by my side

From my perspective, having watched Legans’ teams fairly closely over the past few seasons, this is a great hire for the Pilots.

It’s not just athletes who have been leaving Cheney since the height of the pandemic.

After leading EWU to the NCAA Tournament last month, head men’s basketball coach Shantay Legans accepted the same job at the University of Portland, opening the floodgates.

Legans took three of his better players from EWU – Jack Perry, Mike Meadows and Tyler Robertson – assistant coaches Bobby Suarez, T.J. Lipold, and multiple Eastern recruits with him.

Legans pointed to EWU’s lack of resources and management for the recent departures.

“Not knowing what you’re going to get day in and day out, that’s hard,” Legans said. “This ain’t Forrest Gump. It ain’t like a box of chocolates.”

"Q:What’s it going to take for Shantay Legans to help Portland crawl out of the WCC basement? Timeline? What is the program’s ceiling? Can they get to the top 3 of WCC?    

A:Legans is a bright young coach who did an excellent job at Eastern Washington. But I was kind of surprised to see him take this gig, frankly. I lived in Portland not long ago and have been to a game at the Chiles Center. It’s a beautiful campus in a great city, but this has been an absolute graveyard of a men’s basketball program. The school has high admissions standards and is an afterthought among local sports fans. Legans somehow found players to come to Cheney, Wash., so at least now he has a desirable location to sell. The WCC has a good TV deal, and you can tell recruits they can come and play against Gonzaga. If Legans succeeds here — and success should be considered a winning record and, like, a top-four conference finish in the next five years — it will be quite an accomplishment. At least he can enjoy plenty of Breakside IPAs in the process. (Hey, boss, I need to go do a Legans feature ASAP!)"

Pilot14 wrote:(Won't let me post a link)

Oregon Live wrote:Shantay Legans looks to dig University of Portland out of college basketball graveyard: ‘Our time is now...’

Pilot14 wrote:From Brian Bennett's mid-major mailbag on The Athletic:

At least he can enjoy plenty of Breakside IPAs in the process. (Hey, boss, I need to go do a Legans feature ASAP!)"

@PoohJeter wrote:You know I had to take a photo with the new coaches at my alma mater @PilotHoops. Congrats again to my bros @CoachLegans (Head Coach) and @CoachJPope (Asst coach.) Let’s goooooo Pilots!!!

Go Pilots!  Wear Purple!  Root for us!

FloridaPilot wrote:post a synopsis?

BSleik wrote:

FloridaPilot wrote:post a synopsis?

there is only a small paragraph on Legans and UP

New high-major coaches and other notables

Shantay Legans, Portland Pilots: Given the strength of schedule, it's too early to get too excited about the Pilots, but they've already won seven games this season -- after winning six games all of last season. The best win was probably over Portland State and one of the seven wins came against a non-Division I opponent, but at least there's some promise for a Pilots program with nine losing seasons in its past 10. Portland has improved defensively up to this point in the season.

DoubleDipper wrote:This just in, EWU stars Tanner and Jacob Groves are both in the transfer portal!  

@PortlandMBB wrote:Tune in to @johncanzanobft today at 12:30 PM as
@CoachLegans joins the program to chat Pilot Hoops!

up7587 wrote:Didn't see this until it was too late.

@PortlandMBB wrote:Tune in to @johncanzanobft today at 12:30 PM as
@CoachLegans joins the program to chat Pilot Hoops!

Anybody catch it?  Will have to see when it is uploaded to Canzano's web site.

Tyler Robertson wrote:“The three of us knew we were going to have a big responsibility and a lot of changing the culture within the new players coming in.  We’ve got some young guys that are taking some time to get there, but they’re doing better and better every game and that’s just the big thing, the three of us that have come with Legs, guys need to learn the new system, new defense, new offense are just learning how to cope with our coaching staff

Pilot14 wrote:Will the Shantay Legans era last past the 2022-2023 season? Seriously, what a job- man (and staff) can coach ball and it’s easy to see