May 13, 2003
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Jonathan Tsipis, a veteran assistant coach with eight years of experience, has been named an assistant women’s basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame, head coach Muffet McGraw announced Tuesday. Tsipis (pronounced SIP-iss) comes to Notre Dame following one season as the director of men’s basketball operations at UNC Greensboro, working under former Irish assistant coach Fran McCaffery. Tsipis replaces Letitia Bowen, who left Notre Dame last month to join her husband in Cincinnati.
“Jonathan has a tremendous passion for the game of basketball and loves being involved in all aspects of coaching,” McGraw said. “He has some great fresh ideas and knows the game extremely well from all angles. It’s an added bonus that he spent last year on Fran McCaffery’s staff. Fran is one of the best there is and he knows exactly the kind of person that fits at Notre Dame. When he recommended Jonathan to me, that held a lot of weight.”
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jonathan for four years and was very happy to have had him on our staff this past season,” McCaffery said. “Jonathan did an excellent job for UNCG in all facets of our operation. He is an outstanding individual and will make a great impact at the University of Notre Dame.
“There is no one I respect more in this business than Muffet McGraw,” he added. “I am pleased that Jonathan is getting a chance to work with her and a program of that stature.”
Prior to arriving at UNC Greensboro, Tsipis spent two seasons as an assistant men’s coach at Elon (N.C.) College. While there, he worked primarily with the Phoenix’s perimeter players and also helped coordinate the team’s scouting and recruiting efforts. In addition, he was responsible for organizing the team’s travel plans and off-season workout programs.
Tsipis came to Elon after one year as the top assistant men’s coach at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. He also spent three seasons on the men’s basketball staff at Cornell University (one as a full-time assistant, two as a volunteer aide), and one year as a student assistant men’s basketball coach at Duke University. In the latter role, he served under legendary Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski and worked alongside current University of Missouri head men’s basketball coach Quin Snyder.
“Jonathan possesses an extremely strong work ethic and he will do a fine job for the Irish,” Snyder said. “I enjoyed working with him at Duke and wish him nothing but luck with this new endeavor.”
In addition to his coaching duties, Tsipis also serves as the President of the Future Hoopsters Basketball Camp which he founded in 1991. The four-week camp, which focus on specialized individual instruction, originated with 13 campers and now brings in over 100 each summer. He also worked at the Basketball Camp USA in Letahoria, Greece, in July of 2001. There, Tsipis worked clinics for top-ranked junior players from Greece and Macedonia, focusing on perimeter and ball handling skills.
A Cleveland, Ohio, native, Tsipis graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996 with a bachelor of science degree in Pharmacy. He and his wife Leigh will reside in South Bend.
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