The Hawks have finalized the coaching staff that will support Quin Snyder this season. The team announced the additions to the new coach’s bench Wednesday.
The hires of lead assistant Igor Kokoskov, Antonio Lang, Mike Brey and Brittni Donaldson already had been reported. Steve Klei and Jeff Watkinson have worked with the Hawks since March. The team announced that Bryan Bailey, Sanjay Lumpkin and Ekpe Udoh also will join the staff.
“I’ve been fortunate to have worked with and met and connected with a lot of good people over the course of a number of years,” Snyder told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Really, in putting a group together, I really wanted a group that one, I think was talented on the player development front. And that really could provide (and) be able to teach and support and motivate individually, as well as, what we do with the group.”
In addition to the Hawks’ bevy of new assistants, the team added Reggis Onwukamuche as a player-development coach and Bryan George in DAV (player development/advance scouting/video).
The only holdovers from this past season after Snyder took over for Nate McMillan are O’Neil Holder (player development) and Jacob Porter (video).
“We have assembled a coaching staff that brings together a diversity of experiences and expertise to develop, connect with and challenge our players,” Snyder said in a news release. “Each of our coaches bring something unique to our group and I am excited to work with this staff and find ways to continually improve our team.”
Bailey worked as an assistant coach with the Jazz for four seasons. Before that, he spent two years with the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz’s G League affiliate. He began coaching in 2016 with the Westchester Knicks, the G League for the Knicks. Bailey played 13 years in Europe with stops in Germany, the Netherlands, Bosnia, Poland, Cyprus and Italy. He played collegiately at Bucknell. The Hempstead, New York, native also is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Lumpkin worked for the Jazz as a player-development coach last season after two years on the team’s DAV staff. After five seasons at Northwestern (2012-17) he suited up for the Erie BayHawks (2018-19), which eventually became the College Park Skyhawks squad (2019-20), the Hawks G League affiliate. He holds a degree in learning and organizational change from Northwestern and a master’s degree in sports administration.
Udoh (first and last names pronounced epp-ay YOU-doe) has 384 regular-season NBA games (56 starts) for the Warriors, who selected him sixth overall in 2010. He has also played for the Bucks, Clippers and Jazz. He’s also had international stops in Israel, Turkey, China, Italy and Japan in his 13-year playing career. With Fenerbahce in Turkey (2015-17), he was an All-EuroLeague First Team selection and Final Four MVP, leading the EuroLeague in rebounding and blocks en route to the championship, playing alongside current Hawk Bogdan Bogdanovic. Udoh played two seasons at Michigan (2006-08) and one at Baylor (2009-10).
“You kind of go down the line, and there’s a balance between, I think, people that know more than anything, less about a system (and) more about kind of philosophically what we want to be as a coaching staff and what’s important, and then also people that have unique skill sets that really complement one another,” Snyder said to the AJC.
Onwukamuche (first and last names pronounced REH-jiss on-woo-kuh-MOO-chay), worked as an assistant video coordinator for the Bucks last season. played for the College Park Skyhawks during their inaugural 2019-20 season and has appeared in 144 career games in the NBA G League. He also logged minutes with the Lakeland Magic, the G League affiliate of the Magic, as well as the Erie BayHawks. The Hawks signed him to their mini-camp roster in September 2020. Onwukamuche worked with the Utah Jazz in the DAV room during the 2021-22 season. He played collegiately at Prairie View A&M from 2013-15, appearing in 64 games.
George joins the Hawks after he served as an assistant coach for ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne in the French 1st Division. He also has previous experience with Elan Bearnais and Nanterre in France. An assistant coach (video) with the French National Team since 2017, George was part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He is a native of French Guiana and a graduate of Saint Joseph College in Troyes, France, with a degree in energy systems.
“It’s like putting any team together that whether it’s, tactical experience, analytics experience, literally different cultures and genders and all the different things that go into making a unique, strong group,” Snyder said. “But ‘The Thin Red Line’ to me that runs through all of it was, just selfless people that are able to put the group in front of themselves and I really want our staff to model that because that’s what we’re asking of our team.”
