Pacific Fires Men’s Basketball Coach Leonard Perry

Perry has been reassigned within the University of the Pacific’s athletic department.

The University of the Pacific has fired men’s basketball coach Leonard Perry, the school announced Monday morning.

Perry was in his third season with the program. The Tigers are 6–25 overall this season and 0–16 in West Coast Conference play. He compiled a 29–65 record (.309) in two-plus seasons in Stockton, California. 

Associate head coach Josh Newman replaces Perry on an interim basis as the school embarks on a national search for a full-time replacement. Perry will be reassigned within the Tigers athletic department.

Perry was hired at Pacific in 2021 to replace predecessor Damon Stoudamire, who left to become an assistant coach with the NBA’s Boston Celtics. Stoudamire is now in his first season as head coach at Georgia Tech.

The Tigers went 8–22 overall and 3–11 in WCC play under Perry in 2021-22 and improved to 15–18 and 7–9 in conference last season. Now, the program will go in another direction after this season’s regression.

Pacific has fired men’s basketball coach Leonard Perry after his team went winless in West Coast Conference play this season :: John Hefti / USA TODAY Sports

The ninth-seeded Tigers face No. 8-seed Pepperdine (12–19, 5–1) on Thursday in Las Vegas in the first round of the WCC tournament.

The Tigers most recently appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2013 under coach Bob Thomason.