Utah Valley University announced Thursday the hiring of Todd Phillips as the fourth head men’s basketball coach in the Wolverines’ NCAA Division I history.
Phillips has spent the last four seasons on the Utah Valley staff under Mark Madsen, who left the Wolverines last week after accepting the head coaching job at California, serving two years as an assistant coach (2019-21) before being promoted to associate head coach in 2021.
During his time at UVU, Phillips has helped lead the Wolverines to two Western Athletic Conference regular-season championships (2020-21, 2022-23) and a 70-51 record, including 48 wins over the last two seasons.
“This position garnered unprecedented national attention and I believe it is one of the best mid-major jobs in college basketball,” UVU Director of Athletics Dr. Jared Sumsion said in a press release. “Todd has a tremendous basketball mind [and] understands the game at its deepest level. His recruiting network in this region and beyond is second to none. He has a tremendous ability to develop players and build a synergistic team environment.
“With two WAC championships and a deep NIT run, his track record at Utah Valley already speaks for itself.”
Phillips helped the Wolverines to their most successful season ever this past year, as the team went 28-9 overall and 15-3 in WAC play. Utah Valley also finished the season with a nation-best 12 road wins. UVU reached the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) with wins at New Mexico, at Colorado and against Cincinnati at home in the quarterfinals. The Wolverines finished the 2022-23 season with a No. 10 ranking in the College Insider Mid-Major Top-25 poll.
“Todd Phillips is a proven winner who was instrumental in helping our men’s basketball team to its best season ever,” said Astrid S. Tuminez, president of UVU. “The team made it to the NIT semifinals for the first time in program history and Todd was a big part of that success. We are confident that his coaching skills will continue to build on the team’s winning tradition and will inspire our student-athletes in and out of competition and in the classroom. We are honored to have him as our men’s basketball coach.”
“I’m incredibly honored and very appreciative of President Tuminez, Jared Sumsion, and the search committee for the opportunity to be the head coach at Utah Valley,” Phillips said. “I love Utah Valley. I love the community and am excited to build on the success that we have already achieved. I want to build a legacy here. We’re going to continue to win, and we are going to win championships.”
Phillips spent eight seasons as the head coach at Salt Lake Community College, where he compiled a 205-58 (.779) overall record and an 82-32 mark in Scenic West Athletic Conference play. He led SLCC to a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national title in 2016 as the No. 13 seed in the tournament. His 2015-16 team compiled a 31-8 overall record and finished the season with nine straight wins to claim the national championship. He was named NJCAA Coach of the Year after leading the Bruins to the title.
Prior to his time as head coach of the Bruins, Phillips served three seasons as an assistant coach at SLCC under head coach Norm Parrish. During his time as an assistant coach with SLCC, he helped the Bruins win their first-ever national title in 2009.
Phillips also spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at Westminster College, beginning in 2000. During his time at Westminster, he helped the Griffins to eight 20-plus win seasons, six conference titles and six NAIA National Tournament berths.
Phillips played basketball at Snow College in Ephraim and continued his playing career at Lewis-Clark State College from 1997-99. He received his bachelor’s degree in education and kinesiology from Lewis-Clark State and later earned a master’s degree in education administration from the University of Utah.
He and his wife, Bobbi, are both originally from Boise, Idaho, and have a daughter, Kinzi, and a son, Zach.
Phillips will be formally introduced at a press conference next week.