Willard Hires Tony Skinn, Coach With Local Ties, To Be Assistant On Maryland Men's Basketball Team
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Maryland head basketball coach Kevin Willard has made his first key hire, bringing on assistant coach Tony Skinn, who grew up in Takoma Park and played college basketball at George Mason in Fairfax, Va.
Skinn was an assistant for Ohio State during the 2021-2022 season. The No. 7 seed Buckeyes were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Sunday after losing to No. 2 seed Villanova, 71-61.
Prior to joining Ohio State, Skinn was a member of Willard's staff at Seton Hall for three seasons.
In Skinn's first season with the Pirates, Seton Hall went 20-14 and made the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year. The 2019-20 squad went 21-9 and won the regular season Big East championship, the school's first since 1993.
According to his biography on Seton Hall's website, Skinn worked closely with guards Myles Powell and Quincy McKnight, the team's two leading scorers. Powell is now on the roster of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.
As a member of the George Mason Patriots, Skinn, who was born in Nigeria, scored 1,079 points in three seasons and was twice an All-CAA selection. He was a part of one of the best Cinderella stories in March Madness history, the No. 11 Patriots team that went through No. 6 seed Michigan State, No. 3 seed North Carolina, No. 7 seed Wichita State and No. 1 seed Connecticut to reach the Final Four in 2006.
Skinn averaged 12.6 points per game that season.
Per Ohio State, Skinn played in the 2012 Olympics as a member of the Nigerian national team, which finished 10th in the tournament.
