Men's basketball hires Chris Tifft as assistant coach
Coach Keno Davis calls timeout with under a minute left in regulation against Northern Illinois March 5 at McGuirk Arena.
Keno Davis has added a new name to his coaching staff.
Chris Tifft was named assistant coach for Central Michigan after serving in the same role at Saint Louis (2016-19) and TCU (2012-16).
Davis' assistants for the 2019-20 season are Tifft, Chris Davis and DJ Mocini.
Tifft is well-traveled in his basketball career.
He played at Three Rivers (Missouri) Community College and transferred to Nevada, where he began his coaching career after his playing days concluded in 1996. He coached the Wolf Pack until 2001 and went to Dodge City (Kansas) Community College, serving as an assistant from 2001-04. He was then head coach at Lamar (Colo.) Community College from 2004-09 and at New Mexico Junior College from 2009-12.
In his head coaching career, Tifft owns a 158-94 record and helped lead the Billikens to the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament title and the NCAA Tournament last season.
He also brought Lamar Community College to a fifth-place showing in the 2009 National Junior College Athletic Association tournament after winning the program's first regional championship. Tifft was also named 2009 NJCAA District Coach of the Year.
Davis heads into his eighth season at the helm of the Chippewa program, which went 23-12 last season. He said that Tifft's travels and experience will help CMU.
"Coach Tifft is widely recognized as an outstanding coach on the court, an experienced recruiter, and a great person," Davis said in a press release. "I look forward to introducing him and his family to CMU and to the Mount Pleasant community."
Tifft has coached 46 all-conference/all-region players along with two conference players of the year during his career.
The newest CMU assistant earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in geography and a Masters of Education from Nevada.
