Damion Jablonski has a record of 95-35 heading into his sixth year as head men's basketball coach for the Pirates. He is in his 14th season at Whitworth, following eight years as an assistant coach, including six seasons with the title of Associate Head Coach. Over the course of his tenure the Bucs have won 289 games, nine Northwest Conference titles and ten NWC tournament crowns.
Last season the Pirates finished 20-9 overall after sharing the NWC regular season championship. The Bucs won the NWC tournament for the 16th time to claim the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. Jojo Anderson was named the NWC's Player of the Year, Sullivan Menard earned first team All-NWC and Jake Holtz claimed second team honors. Whitworth went on to defeat host Cal Lutheran in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament before losing 69-67 in the second round.
The Pirates were 18-10 overall in 2022-23 and won the conference tournament as the third-seeded team. Whitworth went 22-5 overall and 13-3 in the NWC to share the regular season title in 2021-22. The Pirates advanced to the conference tournament championship game for the 18th straight year and won for the 14th time to claim the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. Jablonski guided the Pirates to a 23-6 record during his first year as head coach in 2019-20, earning a share of the Northwest Conference title. Whitworth won its first two games in the NCAA Division III tournament before the event was canceled. Ben College claimed NWC Player of the Year, as well as All-West Region and All-America (3rd team) recognition. Jablonski was selected as the West Region Coach of the Year by D3hoops.com.
During the Covid-shortened 2020-21 season, Whitworth navigated a challenging schedule to a final record of 12-5, including a pair of wins over NCAA DII Seattle Pacific. The Bucs went 8-2 against NWC "North" schools, the best record among the four teams.
As the head recruiting coordinator, Jablonski was instrumental in continuing the Bucs’ tradition of success by helping to recruit high quality student-athletes to Whitworth. His efforts over the past severa; years have included the addition of First Team All-American Kyle Roach, third team All-American and NWC Player of the Year Kenny Love and First Team All Northwest Conference selection Christian Jurlina.
Focusing on post player development and defense in practice, Jablonski has mentored the Whitworth big men to a combined FG shooting percentage of nearly 60% over the past six seasons. During that run, Whitworth center Taylor Farnsworth was a three time honorable mention All-NWC selection. Additionally, the 2014-15 Whitworth Pirates ranked 26th nationally in scoring defense (61.4ppg) and 28th nationally in field-goal percentage defense (39.2%).
Jablonski joined the Pirate basketball bench after one season on the Lehigh University staff in 2010-11. As an assistant at Lehigh, Jablonski was tasked with recruiting, scouting and player development, as well as pre-season conditioning and program budget.
Prior to joining Lehigh, Jablonski spent three years at Oakland University in Michigan working under long time head coach Greg Kampe, who currently ranks in the top 20 for career wins among active Division I coaches. Jablonski began as a Graduate Assistant before taking over responsibilities as Video Coordinator. During his time at Oakland he also coordinated travel, strength and conditioning, directed camps, and spent several months of the 2010-11 season serving as an interim recruiter and on-the-floor coach. That year the Golden Grizzlies went 26-9 while winning the Summit League regular season and conference tournament before falling to the University of Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Jablonski began his coaching career in 2005 as an assistant coach at Livonia Franklin HS in Livonia, Michigan.
Jablonski has also been involved professionally as a speaker and clinician. He has worked camps around the country including Central Michigan, Villanova, and Eastern Invitational in New Jersey. In 2009 he was asked to be a clinician for The Youth Education through Sports (YES) Clinic in conjunction with the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Final Four. Since returning to Spokane, Jablonski has presented twice at the annual Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association (WIBCA) Clinic. Additionally, in the summer of 2015, Jablonski led an NBC basketball team on an international tour to Italy.
Jablonski graduated from Gonzaga University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and went on to work as an engineer at Ford Motor Company from 2001-2007. He grew up in Polson, Montana. He and his wife Jami have two children - daughter Vivienne and son Kenyon.
