Former Hoosier Vijay Blackmon Hired as Valparaiso Strength and Conditioning Coach

Vijay Blackmon played for the Indiana basketball team from 2017 to 2019, and was recently named the head strength and conditioning coach for the men's basketball team at Valparaiso University.

Former Indiana Hoosier guard Vijay Blackmon will take over as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Valparaiso University men's basketball team. 

Coached by his father James Blackmon Sr., Vijay attended Marion High School in Marion, Ind., where he scored 1,500 points and was an All-State honorable mention by the Associated Press during his senior season. Averaging 17.4 points as a senior, Blackmon led Marion to a class 3A state championship in 2016.

Following his high school career, Blackmon played basketball at the University of Saint Francis, an NAIA Division I school in Fort Wayne, Ind. He played 22 games for the Cougars, averaging 9.2 points per game. But after one season, Blackmon decided to transfer to Indiana. 

Vijay is the younger brother former Indiana guard James Blackmon Jr., who scored 1,235 points across three seasons form 2014 to 2017 for the Hoosiers. Vijay came to Indiana the season after James left Bloomington to pursue a professional career.

Blackmon had to sit out Indiana's 2017-2018 season to fulfill NCAA transfer requirements, but he was eligible to play during Archie Miller's second season as head coach during the 2018-2019 season. Blackmon earned Academic All-Big Ten honors as a junior, and he appeared in seven games for the Hoosiers. He scored a season-high five points against Chicago State.

After two seasons at Indiana as a preferred walk-on, Blackmon earned a scholarship and transferred to Lindenwood University, a Division II school that competes in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. He started all 28 games for Lindenwood, scoring 16.6 points per game and shooting 36.5 percent from 3. Blackmon scored a career-high 39 points on Jan. 20 versus McKendree. 

In Blackmon's final collegiate season, he started 11 games for Lindenwood, scoring 13.5 points per game. He finished his Lindenwood career with 613 points, 145 rebounds and 99 assists across 39 games in two seasons. Lindenwood is now in the process of transferring to become a Division I school and a member of the Ohio Valley Conference in July of 2022.

Now that is playing days are over, Blackmon will still stay involved with the game as Valparaiso University's head strength and conditioning coach for the men's basketball team. Blackmon earned a Masters of science degree in health sciences fitness and wellness at Lindenwood. Valparaiso competes in the Division I Missouri Valley Conference and most recently made the NCAA Tournament in 2015 when it was a member of the Horizon League.

In 2021, Valparaiso changed its nickname from the Crusaders to the Beacons. Matt Lottich became the head coach for Valparaiso in 2016, and holds a 96-95 record. Lottich played college basketball at Stanford before playing professional basketball in New Zealand, Japan and Germany. 

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