Clayton State University Athletics

An 18-year coaching veteran, with 14 of those at the collegiate level, Egnatz joined Clayton State's staff in July of 2015 and was promoted to associate head coach in October 2019. In June 2020, Egnatz was named interim head coach for the Lakers and oversew all aspects of the men’s basketball program. He brings a wealth of experience from the junior college, Division II and Division I ranks.
 
CLAYTON STATE (2015-PRESENT, ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH//ASSISTANT COACH)
Over his first four seasons with the Lakers Egnatz has been instrumental in a pair of back-to-back Peach Belt Conference Regular Season Championships (2016-17, 2017-18), the first NCAA Division II Tournament appearance in a decade in 2017-18 as well as numerous accolades and honors.
 
In 2016-17 he helped guide Clayton State to a 16-13 overall record and a rare five-way share of the PBC West Division Championship. That came in dramatic fashion as the club defeated Montevallo 71-70 in the regular season finale for their first title since the 2001-02 campaign. That win gave the Lakers the No. 1 seed and a return to the PBC Tournament for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
 
The following year would see the Lakers deliver a record setting season as they repeated as regular season champions, went 24-7 to tie the team’s DII wins record, won 14 games in a row at one point and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007-08. That team then notched a 75-69 victory over Carson-Newman to advance to the Southeast Region Semifinals.
 
Egnatz has played a key role in recruiting and coaching the players that have made Clayton State’s resurgence possible. In four years he has brought in individuals that have earned DII Bulletin Preseason All-American honors (Jaylen Taylor – 2018-19), two NABC All-Region selections (Nathan Powell – 2017-18, Alfonso Davis – 2016-17), two PBC Defensive Player of the Year awards (Davis, 2015-16, 2016-17) and four All-PBC selections.
 
Academically, Dantez Bennamon and Jaumonee Byrd were selected to the NABC Honors Court in 2016-17 for their success in the classroom. Byrd would take it one step further, however, as he became the first player in program history to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection. He would also be one of two individuals to earn PBC All-Academic Team honors along with Aubrey McRae in 2018-19.

TENNESSEE-MARTIN (2012-14, ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH//ASSISTANT COACH)
Before coming to the Lakers he spent two years at Division I Tennessee-Martin from 2012-14, including serving as the associate head coach in his final season. During his time with the Skyhawks he was responsible for recruiting, scheduling, academics, scouting, on the floor coaching and development of the post players.

He also helped mentor three 1,000-point scorers in Myles Taylor, Mike Liabo and Terence Smith in 2013-14, a group that consisted of just 18 players at UTM at the time.

In his first season, the club battled through injuries for the first half of the season before getting healthy down the stretch. During that time they won five of eight games to make the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, a qualification that both Eastern Kentucky (25-10) and OVC East Champion Murray State (21-10) would come to regret as both fell to the Skyhawks in the postseason.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL (2008-12, ASSISTANT COACH)
Prior to joining UT-Martin, Egnatz had significant experience at Division II Lincoln Memorial from 2008-12. During that time he helped guide the program from a 14-14 record in 2008-09 to national prominence over the next three seasons.

In 2009-10 the program notched a 20-9 campaign before exploding for a 27-3 record in 2010-11. That season also resulted in the first two championships in the program's Division II history as the Railsplitters swept the South Atlantic Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships on their way to the first NCAA Tournament berth in program history.

They would go on to finish the season ranked No. 10 in the country and Egnatz would coach the SAC Player of the Year in Desmond Johnson and serve under SAC Coach of the Year Josh Schertz.

The 2011-12 season would see them continue their meteoric rise, going 26-6 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year where they would lose by just one point to eventual national runner-up Montevallo in the Southeast Region Semifinals. That season they would become the first SAC school to reach No. 1 in the nation, break multiple league records and finish with a national ranking of No. 24.

Over the course of his tenure at LMU, Egnatz was responsible for a number of areas, including scouting, recruiting, heading up the team's strength and conditioning program and leading the locker room renovation and design of the weight room and new film room.

He helped guide the program to three consecutive 20-wins seasons, including his final two ranking not only as the best consecutive seasons in team history, but also that of the SAC. He also coached six All-Conference selections and a pair of All-American honorees, along with recruiting a total of seven All-SAC players, four of which hailed from the State of Georgia.

POLK STATE COLLEGE (2006-08, ASSISTANT COACH)
Egnatz came to LMU from Division I junior college Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla., where he served as an assistant coach from 2006-08. He also helped turn that program around as, following a 13-16 campaign in 2006-07, PSC erupted for a 25-5 record in 2007-08. That saw them earn a No. 4 ranking in the State of Florida and move several players onto NCAA Division I and II programs.

SOMERSET ACADEMY (2002-06, HEAD BOYS BASKETBALL COACH)
Prior to his first foray into the college ranks, Egnatz began his professional career at Somerset Academy in Pembroke Pines, Fla., serving in a variety of capacities from 2002-06. He not only served as the head boys basketball coach, but also helped to build the athletic program from the ground up as an assistant athletic director.

Among his responsibilities were assisting with scheduling of games for all 10 programs, fundraising, launching of the department's annual golf tournament and organizing the annual sports banquets. Egnatz also was in charge of the strength and conditioning program for the entire department and developed practice and game plans for both in-season and off-season programs.

COLLEGIATE PLAYING CAREER: PSU-BEAVER (1997-99) and LYNN (1999-01)
Before embarking into the professional ranks, the Pittsburgh, Pa. native played at a pair of Division II institutions in Penn State University – Beaver (1997-99) and Lynn University (1999-01).

At PSU-Beaver Egnatz served as team captain and was the Robert J. Miklos Award Winner, representing dedication, leadership, sportsmanship and hard work. With Lynn he was a member of teams that went 19-8 and 17-10 for a combined 36-18, playing in 12 games in 1999-2000. He also played baseball for both PSU-B and Lynn, leading Beaver to the 1999 National Junior College Athletic Association World Series.

EDUCATION
He holds a Master of Science in Sports Leadership earned from Duquesne University in 2014 as well as a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Administration, Sports and Recreation Management earned from Lynn University in 2002.
 
PERSONAL
Residing in McDonough, Georgia, Egnatz is married to the former Juliette Schohn of Paris, France. The couple celebrated the birth of their first child, Kylie, in 2014 and their second, Erik, in the Summer of 2019.

THE LANCE EGNATZ FILE

Year	School	Position	Overall Record	Pct.	Conf. Record	Pct.	Conf. Finish	Conf. Tournament	Postseason Appearance	Accolades/ Accomplishments
2006-07	Polk State	Ast. Coach	13-16	.742	3-9	.250	5th	N/A
2007-08	Polk State	Ast. Coach	25-5	.482	10-2	.833	1st	N/A		Regular Season Champions, No. 5 NJCAA National Ranking, 9 All-Conference (4 First-Team, 3 Second, 2 Honorable Mention)
2008-09	Lincoln Memorial	Ast. Coach	14-14	.500	8-8	.500	5th	Quarterfinals		3 All-Conference (1 First-Team, 2 Second-Team), 1 SAC Freshman of the Year, 1 All-Freshman Selection,
2009-10	Lincoln Memorial	Ast. Coach	20-10	.667	9-7	.563	4th	Semifinals		1 Daktronics All-Region (Second-Team), 1 All-Conference (First-Team), 1 All-SAC Tournament
2010-11	Lincoln Memorial	Ast. Coach	27-3	.900	16-2	.889	1st	Champions	NCAA Division II Tournament - Regional Quarterfinal	SAC Regular Season Champions, 2 Daktronics All-Region (1 First-Team, 1 Second-Team), 1 SAC Player of the Year, 2 All-Conference (2 First-Team), 1 All-Freshman Team, 1 SAC Tournament MVP, 3 All-SAC Tournament
2011-12	Lincoln Memorial	Ast. Coach	26-6	.813	14-4	.778	4th	Semifinals	NCAA Division II Tournament - Regional Semifinal	1 DII Bulletin All-American (Honorable Mention), 3 All-Conference (2 First-Team, 1 Second-Team), 1 All-Freshman Team
2012-13	Tennessee-Martin	Ast. Coach	9-21	.300	5-11	.313	W5th	First Round
2013-14	Tennessee-Martin	Associate Head Coach	8-23	.258	3-13	.188	W6th	N/A
2014-15	Basketball Consultant/Trainer	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A		Trained high school and professional level players, Assisted in college selection
2015-16	Clayton State	Ast. Coach	14-12	.538	9-10	.474	W5th	N/A		PBC Defensive Player of the Year, 1 All-PBC Selection (Second-Team)
2016-17	Clayton State	Ast. Coach	16-13	.552	11-8	.579	W1st	Quarterfinals		PBC West Division Champions, PBC Defensive Player of the Year, 1 NABC All-Region Selection, 1 All-PBC Selection (First-Team), 1 PBC All-Preseason, 1 CoSIDA Academic All-District, 1 PBC All-Academic
2017-18	Clayton State	Ast. Coach	24-7	.774	19-3	.864	T1st	Championship Game	NCAA Division II Tournament - Regional Semifinal	PBC Regular Season Champions, 1 NABC Team of the Week (Program First), Qualified for NCAA Tournament (First Since 2007-08), Set Program Record for PBC Wins (19), Finished No. 25 in Nation, Won 14 Straight Games (1/24 through 3/3), 1 NABC All-Region (Second-Team), 2 All-PBC Selections (2 First-Team)
2018-19	Clayton State	Ast. Coach	10-18	.357	7-15	.318	9th	N/A		DII Bulletin Preseason No. 20, 1 DII Bulletin Preseason All-American, 1 PBC All-Preseason Selection, 3 PBC Weekly Award Winners (Program Record), 1 PBC All-Academic
Career	Total (12 Sea.)	Ast. Coach	142-98	.592	104-76	.578		2 Championships, 2 Semifinals, 2 Quarterfinal, 1 First Round	3 NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances (2 Regional Semifinals, 1 Regional Quarterfinal)	4 Regular Season Championships, 1 Tournament Championship, 1 DII Bulletin All-American (Honorable Mention), 2 NABC All-Region (2 Second-Team), 3 Daktronics All-Region (1 First-Team, 2 Second-Team), 4 All-Tournament, 1 Player of the Year, 2 Defensive Player of the Year, 1 Freshman of the Year, 22 All-Conference (13 First-Team, 7 Second-Team, 2 Honorable Mention), 3 All-Freshman Team, 1 DII Bulletin Preseason All-American, 2 PBC Preseason Selections, 1 CoSIDA Academic All-District, 2 League All-Academic
Career	Clayton State (4 Sea.)	Ast. Coach	64-50	.561	46-36	.561		1 Championship Game, 1 Quarterfinal	NCAA Division II Tournament (1 Regional Semifinal)	2 PBC Regular Season Championship, DII Bulletin Preseason No. 20, 1 DII Bulletin Preseason All-American, 2 NABC All-Region (Second-Team), 2 PBC All-Preseason Selection, 2 PBC Defensive Player of the Year Selections, 4 All-PBC Selections (3 First, 1 Second), 1 NABC Team of the Week (Program First), 1 CoSIDA Academic All-District, 2 PBC All-Academic
Career	Tennessee-Martin (2 Sea.)	Ast. Coach/Assoc. Head Coach	17-44	.279	8-24	.250		1 First Round
Career	Lincoln Memorial (4 Sea.)	Ast. Coach	87-33	.725	47-21	.691		1 Championship, 2 Semifinals, 1 Quarterfinal	NCAA Division II Tournament (1 Regional Semifinal, 1 Regional Quarterfinal)	1 SAC Regular Season Championship, 1 DII Bulletin All-American (Honorable Mention), 3 Daktronics All-Region (1 First-Team, 2 Second-Team), 1 SAC Player of the Year, 9 All-Conference (6 First-Team, 3 Second-Team), 1 SAC Freshman of the Year, 3 All-Freshman Team, 4 All-SAC Tournament
Career	Polk State (2 Sea.)	Ast. Coach	38-21	.671	8-2	.800				Regular Season Champions, No. 5 NJCAA National Ranking, 9 All-Conference (4 First-Team, 3 Second, 2 Honorable Mention)

Updated October 17, 2019, 12:55 p.m.