With fastbreak speed, Eastern Washington promotes Shantay Legans to lead basketball program

Moving with unprecedented swiftness, Eastern Washington has named longtime assistant Shantay Legans to succeed Jim Hayford as its basketball coach.

Less than two hours after rumors surfaced on Wednesday that Hayford was taking over the progam at Seattle University, the Eagles named Legans to replace him.

Legans, a coaching veteran at Eastern who preceded Hayford’s arrival in 2011, will be officially introduced at a press conference at noon Thursday.

The public is invited to attend the event, which will be held in the Red Reese Room at the EWU Special Events Pavilion.

“Moving forward, we are pleased to appoint Shantay Legans as our next head coach,” Chaves said. “Shantay has been an integral part of our recent success and he will do a fantastic job leading us into the future.”

Legans spent all six years on Hayford’s staff and two previous seasons under former head coach Kirk Earlywine.

“I am both honored and humbled to accept the opportunity to lead the Eastern men’s basketball program,” Legans said.

Legans has been associate head coach under Hayford for the past three seasons.

A former player at Cal and Fresno State, Legans has assisted Hayford in recruiting, scouting and game preparation for the Eagles, as well as on-the-floor coaching and the development of EWU’s backcourt players.

Legans becomes Eastern’s 18th head coach in the school’s 109-year basketball history, and the 10th head coach since EWU became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season.