Willard named to UW men's basketball staff

by Wyoming Sports.org

University of Wyoming head men’s basketball coach Heath Schroyer recently announced that Scott Willard has been hired as the Director of Basketball Operations for the Cowboy basketball program.

Willard replaces Tony Schamber who had been with the Cowboy basketball program over the past four seasons.

“We are sad to see Tony go as he was a great asset to this program over the past four seasons,” said Schroyer. “We wish him nothing but the best in the future."

In his role as the director of basketball operations, Willard will be involved in all aspects of the Wyoming basketball program. His specific duties will include coordinating travel for the Cowboys, supervising the Wyoming summer camps as camp director, working as an academic liaison and scheduling future opponents.

“We are very excited about adding Scott to our staff. He has a lot of experience and is very knowledgeable in many areas,” said Schroyer. “I believe that he will help take this program to another level."

Willard comes to Wyoming from Lesley University, a Division III school in Cambridge, Mass., where he was the head men’s basketball coach for the past two seasons. At Lesley, Willard led the Lynx to the best record in school history in 2006-07 (14-13) and to their best North Atlantic Conference finish in 2007-08 (10-6). This past season, Willard led the Lynx to the championship game of the NAC. That marked the first time a Lesley University varsity team had reached a conference championship.

This past summer, Willard was selected to serve as an assistant coach for USA Basketball on both the U-18 and U-19 teams. These teams consisted of elite high school junior and seniors. He helped guide the U-18 squad to a second place finish in the Douai Classic in Douai, France. The U-19 team placed fourth, of 15 international teams, in the Albert Schweitzer tournament in Manheim, Germany.

Prior to accepting the head coaching job at Lesley, Willard worked as an instructor and facility manager at the Tarkanian Basketball Academy in Las Vegas from January until August of 2006. There he trained elite amateur and professional basketball players, organized and coached camps and scheduled national tournaments.

Willard began his coaching career as the head men’s basketball coach at Tilton Prep School in Tilton N.H. from 2003-05. In 2004, he led Tilton to the best record in school history (25-2), the Lakes Region Championship and the New England Prep School Athletics Conference Championship (NEPSAC). That NEPSAC Championship was the first in the 150 year history of Tilton Prep School. In 2005, Tilton once again made it to the NEPSAC Championship game.

Willard received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Kenyon College in 1997 and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Plymouth State University in 2005.

Willard and his wife, Rachel, have a 1-year old daughter, Samantha.

“After having success as a head coach at both the prep school and Division III college ranks, I’m excited to make the jump to the Division I level,” said Willard. “I am eager to learn from an established coaching staff and do my part to help Wyoming get back to the top of the Mountain West Conference