T C U W O M E N’S B A S K E T B A L L • FACT B O O K
T C U A S S I STA N T C O A C H E S
CHRIS JOHNSON
EBONY GILLIAM
4A former executive director and head coach of Cyfair Premier Basketball 4Two-time All-American at Houston Baptist 4Previously spent four years as a high school coach in the Houston area
4A former TCU player, is one of 11 1,000-point scorers in program history 4The third former TCU player to join Jeff Mittie’s staff 4Previously spent four years as a high school coach in the Fort Worth area
Assistant Coach 1st Season • Houston Baptist, 2003
Director of Basketball Operations 2nd Season • TCU, 2004
Chris Johnson comes to TCU following a one-year stint as head girls basketball coach
Ebony Gilliam, a former four-year letterwinner for the TCU women’s basketball team,
at Lutheran High School-North in Houston. This past season, Johnson guided the Lady
was added to the Frog staff as Director of Operations on July 21, 2010. Gilliam replaced
Lions to 20 victories on the year and a second round playoff appearance.
former teammate Sandora Irvin, who left to resume her professional playing career in the
Johnson, who also spent three successful years as an assistant coach at Westside High
WNBA.
School, has been a mainstay in club basketball in the Houston area. Since 2008, Johnson
Duties in Gilliam’s role on the TCU staff include handling team travel, academics, com-
has been both the executive director and head coach of Cyfair Premier Basketball, which
munity outreach, compliance issues and other administrative responsibilities.
is widely considered one of the top AAU programs in the state of Texas. During his time as
Gilliam spent four years as a high school teacher and head coach in the Fort Worth
director and coach, Johnson had numerous players ranked in the top 100 in the country,
area, including two seasons at area power Dunbar High School. She led the Wildcats to
with nearly every player going on to play women’s basketball at the collegiate level.
a 57-14 overall record in her tenure with a pair of District 7-4A championships and state
The Houston native, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business and Spanish from
playoff appearances. Gilliam was named district coach of the year this past season while
Houston Baptist in 2003, was a two-time All-America honoree at HBU, while leading the
leading the squad to a perfect 18-0 record in 7-4A play. Prior to her stint at Dunbar, she
Huskies to consecutive Red River Conference Championships and back-to-back trips to
spent the previous two seasons as head coach at Trimble Tech High School.
the NAIA National Tournament.
A product of Southwest High School in Fort Worth, Gilliam, formerly Ebony Shaw, experienced one of the most successful playing careers in TCU history from 2000 through 2004. She ranks tied for second in school history with 130 career games played and is seventh in starts with 87. She scored 1,156 points and at the time finished her career ranked No. 6 on the Frogs’ all-time scoring list. Overall, she ranked among the top-10 players for 13 major career statistical categories by the time she stepped off the TCU court. While Gilliam was a steady offensive contributor during her career, it was her defensive prowess that made her even more valuable to the Frogs. She was named the team’s Defensive Player of the Year each of her final three seasons and is the only three-time honoree in Mittie’s Frog tenure. Perhaps more impressive than Gilliam’s individual accomplishments was her help in ushering in the current era of unprecedented success experienced by the TCU program. Her four seasons on campus coincided with the team’s first four NCAA Tournament appearances. The Frogs advanced to the second round each trip to the Big Dance. In addition to the postseason appearances, Gilliam also helped TCU claim its first four conference titles in 2001 (WAC regular season and tournament), 2002 (Conference USA regular season) and 2003 (Conference USA tournament). Gilliam put together her top individual season for TCU as a senior in 2003-04, when she averaged doubles figures in scoring for the first time in her career at 11.0 points per game. She ranked second only to Irvin in scoring and was the only Frog to start each of the team’s 32 contests. She posted a double-double in TCU’s 70-57 win over Temple in the opening round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
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NINE NCAA TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES IN 11 YEARS
• 2 0 0 1 • 2 0 0 2 • 2 0 0 3 • 2 0 0 4 • 2 0 0 5 • 2 0 0 6 • 2 0 0 7 • 2 0 0 9 • 2 0 10