Griz baskeball adds Eggleton to staff

Head coach Travis DeCuire has announced a new addition to the Montana basketball coaching staff. Mikey Eggleton will join the Grizzlies for the 2026-27 season, coming to Missoula following an eight-year run as an assistant at Cal State East Bay.

Eggleton helped lead the Pioneers to an undefeated regular season and an Elite 8 appearance at the D-II level last year. They finished No. 2 in the final NABC poll.

"Winning is huge for me. Staff, players, we try our hardest to recruit guys that have not only impacted winning but been a part of it," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "It's exciting to be able to recruit guys that every time the ball went in the air that they thought they would finish the game with more points than their opponent. I think it's important to have that experience in your staff if you want the team to play that way and an undefeated regular season is very hard to do at any level."

Eggleton has spent his entire coaching career at Cal State East Bay, joining the Pioneers immediately following a playing career at Menlo College. He worked his way up with the program, gaining more responsibilities over the years, and culminated his time there with the best season in program history.

Now, Eggleton is making the jump to the D-I level under Coach DeCuire.

"I'm really excited to be joining the University of Montana especially with the culture that Coach DeCuire has built here the last decade plus," Eggleton said "It's something that I've seen from afar and something I really wanted to be part of. There's obviously great tradition not only with the program, but with the athletics department as a whole, it says a lot about Montana that I've just heard a ton of great things."

Eggleton has plenty of connections to the Montana program through his time with East Bay in the CCAA. His team defeated former Grizzly assistant DJ Broome's Cal Poly Humboldt squad in the CCAA Tournament Championship last season.

He coached Jalen Foy, a member of the 2025 Big Sky Championship Grizzly squad, at East Bay. Eggleton has also known several staff members at Montana for years. The success on the floor speaks for itself at Montana, but he knew that the people behind the scenes would make it a great experience as well.

"I think the biggest thing that drew me to the job was the culture that Coach DeCuire has built and the success that they've had on and off the floor," Eggleton said. "Another thing would be the people. I was familiar with some of the members on staff and them as people was something I was drawn to and I knew that if I was able to come here I would be surrounded by great people."

Coach DeCuire said that he's seen a lot of success at this level from coaches that have risen from the D-II ranks because with smaller staffs, they have to be able to multi-task. He said that versatility is a key for any member of his staff because of the way they spread things out and share responsibilities.

"Mikey is hungry, he's open-minded to things that may be different than what he's experienced. I think that's always important," DeCuire said. "And then the relationships with people currently in the program, people that we've interacted with as a program over the years, he just fits very well."

Eggleton echoed many of DeCuire's statements, saying that his specialty is to be a jack-of-all-trades type of coach. He's learned all the ins and outs of college basketball both on the floor and in the office.

"One of the benefits about being at the D-II level is that you do everything, even from the first day on the job eight years ago when I was fresh off playing in college," Eggleton said. "Scouting, recruiting, everything. Over the years, the defensive side of the ball is something that I've gravitated towards."

The past season, Eggleton served as the team's defensive coordinator. The Pioneers allowed just 63.5 points per game while holding opponents under 30 percent from 3-point range and barely over 40 percent from the field.

East Bay head coach Bryan Rooney was voted the NABC Coach of the Year in 2026 and Eggleton helped develop the NABC Division II Player of the Year Tyree Campbell.

Originally from Pleasant Hill, California, Eggleton attended Menlo College and played for the same program as former Griz coach Chris Cobb. Eggleton was the Cal Pac Freshman of the Year on 2014-15.

After graduating in 2018, he joined the Cal State East Bay Coaching staff prior to the 2018-19 season.

"The past eight years at East Bay were unbelievable," Eggleton said. "I learned a ton, I had an unbelievable boss. I think it was a good alignment of an opportunity here and then also me being prepared and having gained some great experiences having worked with awesome people."

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