Jason Shay - Assistant to the Head Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Jason Shay

Title:
Assistant to the Head Coach
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Jason Shay joined the Demon Deacons coaching staff on June 1, 2021.

While helping student-athletes achieve their goals on and off the floor, Jason Shay is a veteran coach that has been a part of one Elite Eight appearance, three Sweet 16 runs, 10 NCAA Tournaments and five conference championships in his 22 years as a collegiate coach.

Head coach Steve Forbes and Shay spent 12 seasons working together at East Tennessee State (2015-2020), Northwest Florida State College (2011-13) and Tennessee (2006-11) where the duo led those institutions to an astounding 315-101 overall record, which was an average of 26 wins per season.

Over the last four years, Shay has been instrumental in helping Wake Forest:

Earn 61 home victories, as Wake Forest is one of only six schools with that many home wins
86 overall victories, the fourth-most in the ACC
47 ACC regular season victories, most in a four-year span in school history
13 ACC regular season victories in both 2021-22 and 2024-25, tied for the most in a single season in school history

In 2024-25, Shay helped lead the Demon Deacons to 21 victories overall and the program’s first-ever double bye in the ACC Tournament. With 13 ACC victories – tied for the most in a single season in school history and the second time in four seasons the Deacs have hit that mark – Wake Forest earned its highest regular season finish since the 2008-09 campaign.

Wake Forest matched the school record for road ACC victories with six, as the Demon Deacons defeated Syracuse, Miami, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Cal and SMU on their home courts. In February, the Demon Deacons became the first – and only – ACC program to sweep the West Coast swing with victories over the Cardinal and Golden Bears.

In non-conference play, Wake Forest earned eight victories including a 72-70 result over Big Ten Tournament champions Michigan.

In year two at Wake Forest, Shay helped lead the Deacs to their first appearance in the Quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament since 2009 to end the 2022-23 season. Wednesday, March 8, marked the first ACC Tournament win for Wake Forest since 2017. The Demon Deacons made their way back to the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament during Shay's third year in 2023-24, marking the first time since 2007 in which the team has posted back-to-back appearances in that such round of the tournament. Additionally, the season included the 32nd time in program history that the Deacons had advanced in the conference tournament. Wake Forest went on to compete in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) -- its eighth all-time appearance and second in the last three seasons. The team was exceptional in protecting its home floor, finishing 17-2 overall inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the second-most home wins in a single season, trailing just behind the 2021-22 season when the Deacs went 18-2.

Tallying an 11-9 conference record in 2023-24, the Deacons have registered three consecutive years of double-digit ACC wins for the first time since 1995-97 -- having gone 10-10 during 2022-23 and 13-7 in 2021-22. The team's 34 conference victories in that three-year span mark the most since the 2003-05 run when Wake Forest piled up 35 ACC wins. Three seasons in a row with winning records has happened for the program -- a first since 2008-10. The Deacs also reached the 20-win mark in 2023-24 -- the second time in the past three seasons.

Shay’s first season with the Deacs was one of their best seasons in the past 20 years, finishing the 2021-22 year with 25 wins, the most since 2004-05. With a regular-season conference record of 13-7, Wake Forest tied the single-season program record for ACC wins with 13 (2004-05, 2002-03). With just three league wins during 2020-21, the Deacs had the largest year-to-year improvement ever in ACC win totals with 10. Wake Forest finished conference play fifth in the standings, its highest finish since 2010.

With the addition of Shay in Forbes’ second season, Wake Forest had one of the largest improvements from year to year in NCAA history with a 19-game win differential. Wake Forest also broke the program record for most home wins in a season during the first and second rounds of the NIT for 18 home wins in 2021-22.

Wake Forest’s appearance in the NIT was the first postseason appearance for the Deacs since the First Four in 2017. The Deacs were named a two-seed for the 2022 tournament and advanced to the Quarterfinals. It was the longest postseason run for Wake Forest since 2000, when they won the NIT.

While at ETSU, Shay coached current Demon Deacon Damari Monsanto to Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and third team All-Conference honors in 2020-21. After redshirting under Forbes in his true freshman season two years ago, Monsanto played in all 25 games with 20 starts for the Buccaneers during last year, averaging 11.8 points and 7.3 rebounds in 27.4 minutes.

In his lone season as the Bucs head coach Coach Shay was named a finalist for the 2020-21 Joe B. Hall Award, which is presented annually to the top first-year coach in Division I college basketball. Shay led the Blue and Gold to a 13-win campaign, including eight in Southern Conference play. ETSU sat atop the league standings through the first seven games of the season as they won six of its first seven SoCon games. The Bucs defeated every team they played in conference at least once, including a 71-61 road win at regular season champion UNC Greensboro.

ETSU rattled off seven-straight home wins from Dec. 15 to Jan. 30, while Shay’s first win as a Division I head coach was a 57-43 victory over MTSU on Nov. 27 at the Gulf Coast Showcase. Shay’s 13 wins were tied for the third-most among first-year head coaches in 2020-21. As a team, the Bucs led the SoCon in scoring defense (66.2), ranked second in field goal percentage defense (.418) and steals per game (7.4) and third in rebound margin (+3.0).

Individually along with Monsanto’s previously mentioned accolades, Shay tutored guard Ledarrius Brewer to National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-district honors and first team All-Southern Conference honors by the league coaches and media. He averaged 16.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 31.1 minutes per game. The Meridian, Miss. native led the team in scoring, field goals made (142), three-pointers made (59) and steals (36), while playing in 24 games (23 starts).

Prior to 2020-21, Shay spent five seasons as the Buccaneers’ assistant coach under Steve Forbes where ETSU compiled an overall record of 130-42. The 130 wins are the most over a five-year run in program history and in the SoCon during that five-year (2015-20) span. The Bucs also won two Southern Conference regular season championships, two SoCon Tournament championships and made two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2019-20, the Buccaneers set a program-record with 30 wins, becoming just the fourth team in SoCon history to accomplish the feat. In 2017-18, the Blue and Gold tied the school record by winning 16 straight games – a streak that was the longest in the country at one point that season.

Prior to coming to Johnson City, Shay held assistant coaching stints at North Dakota (2013-15), Northwest Florida State College (2011-13), Tennessee (2005-11), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2003-05) and Mercyhurst (Pa.) College (1999-2001). Throughout those stops, Shay had a streak of helping lead teams to nine-consecutive postseason berths at the Division I level, including Tennessee’s first-ever trip to the Elite Eight in 2010 and a Sweet 16 run at Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2005.

During his time at Northwest Florida on Coach Forbes’ staff, the Raiders went 62-6, while winning consecutive Panhandle Conference Championships and back-to-back appearances in the NJCAA Division I National Championship game. Additionally, Coach Forbes and Shay led NW Florida to its most wins in a single season in school history with 32.

His two seasons at the junior college in Niceville, Fla., followed a six-year stint as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee. During his tenure in Knoxville, the Volunteers advanced to six-consecutive NCAA Tournaments, which included UT’s only Elite Eight run in school history in 2010 and a pair of Sweet 16 appearances. The Volunteers also won the outright Southeastern Conference Championship in 2008 – for the first time in 41 years – and UT averaged more than 25 wins per season during his time on the staff, including grabbing the No. 1 ranking for the first time in program history in 2008 and a school-record 31 wins that season.

Overall during his tenure in Knoxville, the Volunteers downed 24 nationally-ranked teams during that span as well, including wins over top-ranked Kansas and Memphis.

Shay’s first Division I assistant coaching job came at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he was first the director of basketball operations for two seasons (2001-03) before being elevated to a full-time assistant prior to the 2003-04 season. The Panthers advanced to the NCAA Tournament in both of his seasons as an assistant coach before the staff moved on to Tennessee for the 2005-06 season.

Shay began his coaching career at Mercyhurst (Pa.) College where he spent two years as an assistant coach and also assisted in the sports information office.

Shay, a native of Galesburg, Ill., was a walk-on at the University of Iowa for Dr. Tom Davis where he earned his bachelor’s degree in health promotion in 1995. Shay then graduated with a master’s degree from Western Illinois in 1998.

Shay and his wife, Jana, have a daughter, Peija, and a son Joah.