JASON SHAY | ASSISTANT COACH

Jason Shay joined the Demon Deacons coaching staff on June 1, 2021.

While helping student-athletes achieve their goals on and off the floor, Jason Shay is a veteran coach that has been a part of one Elite Eight appearance, three Sweet 16 runs, 10 NCAA Tournaments and five conference championships in his 20 years as a collegiate coach.

Coach Forbes and Shay have spent 12 seasons working together at East Tennessee State (2015-2020), Northwest Florida State College (2011-13) and Tennessee (2006-11) where the duo has led those institutions to an astounding 315-101 overall record, which is an average of 26 wins per season.

With Shay’s addition to the coaching staff, this continues a trend of continuity and success of where Coach Steve Forbes has coached throughout his career. Forbes, Shay and current Demon Deacon coach Brooks Savage have worked together for years at Tennessee (four years), Northwest Florida State College (one year) and ETSU (five years) and experienced success on and off the floor at each institution.

Additionally, Wake Forest assistant coach BJ McKie was an assistant coach during the the groups final three seasons in Johnson City as well before coming to Wake Forest in 2020.

Shay, who spent last season as East Tennessee State’s head coach, coached now Wake Forest redshirt freshman Damari Monsanto to Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and third team All-Conference honors in 2020-21. After redshirting under Forbes in his true freshman season two years ago, Monsanto played in all 25 games with 20 starts for the Buccaneers during last year, averaging 11.8 points and 7.3 rebounds in 27.4 minutes.

In his lone season as the Bucs head coach Coach Shay was named a finalist for the 2020-21 Joe B. Hall Award, which is presented annually to the top first-year coach in Division I college basketball. Shay led the Blue and Gold to a 13-win campaign, including eight in Southern Conference play. ETSU sat atop the league standings through the first seven games of the season as they won six of its first seven SoCon games. The Bucs defeated every team they played in conference at least once, including a 71-61 road win at regular season champion UNC Greensboro.

ETSU rattled off seven-straight home wins from Dec. 15 to Jan. 30, while Shay’s first win as a Division I head coach was a 57-43 victory over MTSU on Nov. 27 at the Gulf Coast Showcase. Shay’s 13 wins were tied for the third-most among first-year head coaches in 2020-21. As a team, the Bucs led the SoCon in scoring defense (66.2), ranked second in field goal percentage defense (.418) and steals per game (7.4) and third in rebound margin (+3.0).

Individually along with Monsanto’s previously mentioned accolades, Shay tutored guard Ledarrius Brewer to National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-district honors and first team All-Southern Conference honors by the league coaches and media. He averaged 16.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 31.1 minutes per game. The Meridian, Miss. native led the team in scoring, field goals made (142), three-pointers made (59) and steals (36),  while playing in 24 games (23 starts).

Prior to 2020-21, Shay spent five seasons as the Buccaneers’ assistant coach under Steve Forbes where ETSU compiled an overall record of 130-42. The 130 wins are the most over a five-year run in program history and in the SoCon during that five-year (2015-20) span. The Bucs also won two Southern Conference regular season championships, two SoCon Tournament championships and made two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2019-20, the Buccaneers set a program-record with 30 wins, becoming just the fourth team in SoCon history to accomplish the feat. In 2017-18, the Blue and Gold tied the school record by winning 16 straight games – a streak that was the longest in the country at one point that season.

Prior to coming to Johnson City, Shay held assistant coaching stints at North Dakota (2013-15), Northwest Florida State College (2011-13), Tennessee (2005-11), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2003-05) and Mercyhurst (Pa.) College (1999-2001). Throughout those stops, Shay had a streak of helping lead teams to nine-consecutive postseason berths at the Division I level, including Tennessee’s first-ever trip to the Elite Eight in 2010 and a Sweet 16 run at Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2005.

During his time at Northwest Florida on Coach Forbes’ staff, the Raiders went 62-6, while winning consecutive Panhandle Conference Championships and back-to-back appearances in the NJCAA Division I National Championship game. Additionally, Coach Forbes and Shay led NW Florida to its most wins in a single season in school history with 32.

His two seasons at the junior college in Niceville, Fla., followed a six-year stint as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee. During his tenure in Knoxville, the Volunteers advanced to six-consecutive NCAA Tournaments, which included UT’s only Elite Eight run in school history in 2010 and a pair of Sweet 16 appearances. The Volunteers also won the outright Southeastern Conference Championship in 2008 – for the first time in 41 years – and UT averaged more than 25 wins per season during his time on the staff, including grabbing the No. 1 ranking for the first time in program history in 2008 and a school-record 31 wins that season.

Overall during his tenure in Knoxville, the Volunteers downed 24 nationally-ranked teams during that span as well, including wins over top-ranked Kansas and Memphis.

Shay’s first Division I assistant coaching job came at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he was first the director of basketball operations for two seasons (2001-03) before being elevated to a full-time assistant prior to the 2003-04 season. The Panthers advanced to the NCAA Tournament in both of his seasons as an assistant coach before the staff moved on to Tennessee for the 2005-06 season.

Shay began his coaching career at Mercyhurst (Pa.) College where he spent two years as an assistant coach and also assisted in the sports information office.

Shay, a native of Galesburg, Ill., was a walk-on at the University of Iowa for Dr. Tom Davis where he earned his bachelor’s degree in health promotion in 1995. Shay then graduated with a master’s degree from Western Illinois in 1998.

Shay and his wife, Jana, have a daughter, Peija, and a son Joah.