Tony Barbee assembles three assistants for first coaching staff
Less than a month after being hired as Central Michigan's new men's basketball coach, Tony Barbee has begun to fill out his coaching staff.
Barbee has reportedly added three assistants heading into the 2020-21 season: Chris McMillian, Shane Heirman and Marlon Williamson. Heirman will hold the title of associate head coach.
"I am excited to announce my coaching staff," Barbee said. "I've known all three of them for a long time and believe in how they will help me build CMU basketball into a championship level program."
McMillian is coming to CMU after two seasons at Idaho State. Prior to his time with the Bengals, McMillian was the Director of Player Performance for four years at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
He also spent time on the coaching staff at Centenary College (2009-10), Hawaii (2010-14) and College of Southern Idaho (2014-15). McMillian has worked as a Director of Operations, strength coach, video coordinator and Director of Basketball Operations across his stops.
McMillian played five years of college basketball, from 1998-2003, at Wyoming and was part of two conference championship teams while making one NCAA Tournament appearance.
Heirman has spent the last four seasons at DePaul. During his time with the Blue Demons, Heirman helped recruit one of the program's best recruiting classes in 2019, adding several highly touted prospects including New Haven native Romeo Weems.
Before going to DePaul, Heirman coached at La Lumiere School, a prep powerhouse. He coached at La Lumiere for three seasons, during which he coached 23 players that would play Division I basketball. Heirman also coached a pair of McDonald's All-Americans.
Heirman played college basketball at Tulsa from 2008-11 and played in over 50 games.
Williamson is formerly an assistant coach at Long Island University-Brooklyn. He made the news official with a Twitter post Monday.
Williamson comes to Central Michigan after spending four seasons at LIU Brooklyn. During his time, LIU Brooklyn made the NCAA Tournament once, losing to Radford in a First Four game.
Williamson also spent two seasons as an assistant coach at UMass, where he helped coach the team to a bid in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Williamson also spent nine years coaching with The Family, an AAU program based out of his hometown, Detroit.
During his time with The Family, Williamson served as president of youth operations and head coach. He mentored players such as Draymond Green, Chris Douglas-Robers and James Young, among other players who went on to play at the Division I level.
As a player, Williamson was a four-year player at Youngstown State. He was named to the Horizon League's All-Defensive team as a senior in 2003.
