Josh Giardina - Men's Basketball Coach - East Carolina University Athletics

Josh Giardina

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
giardinajo22@ecu.edu
Phone:
(252) 737-4592

Josh Giardina is in his fourth season in Greenville and his third as assistant coach for the East Carolina men's basketball program after serving as the director of player development in his first season.

Giardina's most recent stop was on Rick Barnes' staff at Tennessee as a graduate assistant for the 2021-2022 season. He played a key role in the development of the All-SEC Freshman Zakai Zeigler and All-SEC point guard and SEC Tournament MVP Kennedy Chandler. During the freshman's outstanding debut season with the Vols in 2021-22. Chandler led UT in scoring (13.9 ppg), assists (4.7 apg) and steals (2.18 spg) while shooting 38 percent from 3-point range.

"We are very fortunate to have Josh with us here at ECU," Schwartz stated. "He is the ultimate grinder and was one of the first coaches we wanted to be a part of our coaching staff. He made a great impact on our players during our time at Tennessee together and has already done the same here with our team. He is one of the sharpest young coaches in this profession that has great experience with player development, video-editing and scouting."

Prior to Tennessee, Giardina spent the 2020-21 season as a graduate assistant at Radford University under head coach Mike Jones. Radford was projected to finish fifth in the Big South standings. The 2020-2021 Highlanders incoming recruiting class added 8 new players to the program, 5 of which were freshman. Radford outperformed expectations and turned in a second-place finish with a 12-6 league mark.

The Harrisburg Pennsylvania native is a 2020 graduate of Marymount University (Virginia) with a degree in health science. He was a four-year standout point guard for the Division III Saints and served as captain during his junior and senior campaign. Giardina graduated with Marymount's highest honor of summa cum laude from the Marymount Honors Program. As a part of the Honors Program degree requirements, he researched the effects of coaching leadership styles on player efficiency for his senior independent-study thesis.

During the summer of 2019 Giardina worked as a recruiting coordinator for the Hoop Group, a grass-roots basketball company that conducts camps, clinics and tournaments. He managed recruitment and administration for highly attended camps at East Stroudsburg University in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. He also coached and assisted with player development throughout those events.