WKU men’s basketball head coach Rick Stansbury announced the hiring of Shammond Williams and Quannas White as assistant coaches for the 2016-17 season in a press release on Wednesday.

Williams and White are former standout players at major collegiate programs. Both join the Hilltoppers after serving on the staff at Tulane University.

“Shammond and Quannas are both quality people who come from winning pedigrees,” Stansbury said through the press release. “The thing that excites me about them is they are good, young guys who are close friends and have worked together before.”

“The transition will be easy for them,” Stansbury said through the press release. “They’re not just great recruiters, but they’re good people who’ve been involved with winning programs. We’re excited to have them at Western Kentucky.”

Williams spent the previous three years as an assistant coach for Tulane.

Williams came to the Green Wave after spending one season as an assistant coach at Furman. The Greenville, S.C., native served as a counselor at the prestigious Nike Elite Youth Skill Academies.

Prior to coaching, Williams played basketball professionally for 13 years in the NBA and Europe. 

In four years at the University of North Carolina, Williams helped guide the Tar Heels to three NCAA Final Four appearances in 1995, 1997 and 1998. Williams averaged 16.8 points and 4.2 assists per game as a senior in 1998 to propel the Tar Heels to a 34-4 record and his third NCAA Final Four appearance. He averaged 10.7 points and 3.0 assists per game over his four seasons in Chapel Hill, N.C.

White spent two seasons on the Tulane staff after eight years heading up the Louisiana Dynasty AAU program and working as a private basketball trainer. White guided the Dynasty to more than 30 tournament titles and developed several players that went on to play Division I college basketball.

White, who averaged 17 points and won a state title as a senior at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, first played collegiately at Midland (Texas) College and earned all-conference honors as a sophomore. He then spent his final two seasons of eligibility as the starting point guard at the University of Oklahoma.

During his two seasons in Norman, Okla., White helped lead the Sooners to the 2002 NCAA Final Four as a member of the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team after posting 7.6 points and 4.7 assists per game. He then helped Oklahoma reach the 2003 NCAA Elite Eight with 8.6 points and 4.1 assists per outing.

“The tradition of Western Kentucky basketball speaks for itself,” White said through the press release. “To have the opportunity to work under coach Stansbury – I jumped at it. He recruited me at Mississippi State, so our relationship goes back many years. We kept in touch over the years, and he’s a great guy and a big-time coach. To be able to work for him at Western Kentucky is a grand opportunity.”

“When I began to look at what I needed for me as an individual, the most important thing I wanted was to be around good people and a great basketball environment,” Williams said through the press release. “Western Kentucky fits that for me. I’ve had the opportunity to work at some great institutions, but I wanted to be in an institution that was very progressive in wanting to be successful in the game of basketball. 

White and Williams join a WKU staff that also includes Assistant Coach Chris Cheeks, Director of Basketball Operations Talvis Franklin and Associate Director of Basketball Operations Martin Cross.