Tony Bland - Men's Basketball Coach

Tony Bland

Title:
Men's Basketball Assistant Coach
Email:
abland@usc.edu
Phone:
740-6777

Tony Bland, who was placed on indefinite administrative leave of absence on Sept. 26, 2017, was elevated to his current position of Associate Head Coach for the 2014-15 season after serving as an assistant coach for the 2013-14 season. In 2015, he was one of four coaches in the U.S. chosen to participate at the Sports For Community Summit held in Dakar, Senegal to discuss how to improve and impact communities positively through sport.

"We are extremely excited to have Tony on the USC coaching staff," said Enfield. "He grew up in Los Angeles and has been a successful player, mentor and coach. Tony will be a big part of our future successes as we build the Trojan program."

One of Bland’s many talents is that of being an elite recruiter and the Trojans have brought in top 20 classes nationally since his arrival, including landing among others Chimezie Metu, Jordan McLaughlin, Elijah Stewart and Bennie Boatwright which helped form the core of the Trojans’ resurgence.

Bland spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater San Diego State, helping lead the Aztecs to the NCAA Tournament both seasons. He is a Los Angeles native who was a high school All-American at Westchester High.

Bland played for two national championship coaches in Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Steve Fisher of San Diego State and was part of teams that won 84 games and advanced to three NCAA Tournaments and the NIT in his four seasons of collegiate basketball. He combined to score 1,368 points, grab 331 rebounds and dish out 319 assists in 127 collegiate games, 95 starts.

Bland began his college playing career at Syracuse for the 1999 and 2000 seasons, advancing to the NCAA Tournament each season. As a sophomore, he was one of three Syracuse players to start every game for a team that advanced to the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual NCAA Champion Michigan State in Auburn Hills, Mich.
He transferred to San Diego State and as a junior in 2002 led San Diego State’s magical run to a Mountain West tournament championship and the school’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 1985. He averaged 15.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists, in becoming the first player in the history of the Mountain West Conference to rank among the league’s top 10 players in scoring and assists and top 20 in rebounding.

He was a captain at SDSU in 2003 as a senior and helped lead the Aztecs to their first Division I postseason victory, a 67-62 overtime win over UCSB in the NIT. He averaged 16.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists and was named to the NABC District 13 and USBWA District IX teams.

Following college, Bland was invited to the Indiana Pacers’ training camp and then went on to play in the United States Basketball League where he earned the league’s Rookie of the Year award. He signed a contract with the Sacramento Kings for the 2004 preseason. He went on to play in Russia, the NBA Development League and in Europe.

He returned to San Diego State prior to the 2008-09 season to serve as the team’s head manager and ultimately completing his degree in social science. Bland has three sons, Anthony, Landon and Axl and a daughter, Scout. His wife’s name is Tasia.