Todd Okeson enters his eighth season on the Utah Valley men’s basketball staff and his fourth as associate head coach under head coach Todd Phillips. Since joining the Wolverines in 2019, Okeson has played a pivotal role in Utah Valley’s rise, helping the program capture four Western Athletic Conference regular-season championships (2020–21, 2022–23, 2024–25, 2025–26), including back-to-back outright titles over the past two seasons.
In 2025–26, Okeson helped guide Utah Valley to a 25-9 overall record and a 14-4 mark in WAC play as the Wolverines won their second straight outright conference championship and fifth WAC regular-season title in program history. UVU earned the No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament, advanced to the championship game for the second consecutive season, and made its second straight appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. The season also gave Utah Valley back-to-back 25-win campaigns for the first time in program history.
Utah Valley was one of the nation’s most productive and disruptive teams in 2025–26, ranking sixth nationally in steals per game (9.4), seventh in assists per game (18.5), seventh in turnovers forced per game (15.24), ninth in blocks per game (5.4), 11th in field goal percentage (.501), and 23rd in scoring margin (+11.4). The Wolverines also finished with the highest NCAA NET ranking in the WAC at No. 85 and the league’s top KenPom ranking at No. 91.
Offensively, the Wolverines rewrote the program record book, setting single-season school records for assists (630), assists per game (18.5), scoring average (80.1 points per game), and field goal percentage (.501). Utah Valley also scored 2,724 points, the second-most in a season in program history.
Okeson also helped oversee standout individual performances in 2025–26. Trevan Leonhardt set the program’s single-season assists record with 205 and finished his UVU career as the all-time leader in steals with 160 and second in career assists with 419. Jackson Holcombe set the program’s single-season steals record with 75 while averaging 16.0 points per game. Leonhardt and Holcombe each earned First Team All-WAC, WAC All-Defensive Team, and WAC All-Tournament Team honors.
The Wolverines were also dominant at home in 2025–26, going 15-0 during the regular season and 15-1 overall at the UCCU Center. Utah Valley posted a 27-1 home record over the past two seasons and carried a 27-game home winning streak into the NIT, which at the time ranked as the fourth-longest active streak in the nation.
In 2024–25, Okeson helped guide the Wolverines to a 25-9 overall record, a dominant 15-1 mark in WAC play, and the outright WAC regular-season title. Utah Valley earned the No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament and advanced to its first-ever WAC Tournament championship game before earning a berth in the NIT. UVU finished the season ranked No. 19 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll and went undefeated at home during the regular season for the first time in program history.
Under Okeson’s leadership, the Wolverines ranked among the nation’s best in multiple statistical categories in 2024–25, including fifth in blocks per game (5.6), 25th in defensive rebounds per game (27.35), and 41st in rebounds per game (38.21). Offensively, UVU led the WAC in field goal percentage (46.8%), assists per game (15.6), and rebound margin (+4.9). Dominick Nelson was named WAC Player of the Year, Carter Welling earned WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors, Tanner Toolson was named Second Team All-WAC, and Jackson Holcombe earned WAC All-Freshman Team honors.
In 2023–24, Okeson helped UVU close the regular season by winning seven of its final eight games to finish 16-16 overall and tied for fourth in the WAC standings. The Wolverines also went 4-2 against in-state opponents with wins over Weber State, Southern Utah twice, and Utah Tech.
Okeson was instrumental in the Wolverines’ record-setting 2022–23 season, which saw UVU post a 28-9 overall record and 15-3 WAC mark. The Wolverines reached the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament, earning road wins at New Mexico and Colorado before defeating Cincinnati at home. UVU also recorded a nation-best 12 road wins and earned its highest-ever finishes in the NCAA NET (No. 58) and KenPom (No. 64) rankings.
In 2021–22, Okeson helped UVU to its first 20-win season since 2019, finishing 20-12. The season prior, he helped engineer a remarkable turnaround in 2020–21, guiding a revamped roster of 16 newcomers to a WAC regular-season championship after being picked seventh in the preseason poll.
Before arriving at Utah Valley, Okeson spent the 2018–19 season at the University of Nevada, where he was part of a staff that led the Wolf Pack to a 29-5 record, a third straight Mountain West title, and an NCAA Tournament berth. He also worked with NBA champion JaVale McGee during his time at Nevada.
Okeson’s coaching résumé includes roles as director of basketball operations at the University of Hawai‘i from 2016–18, assistant coach and interim head coach at Southern Utah from 2012–16, staff positions at Georgia from 2009–12, and a role with the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League in 2008–09. At Georgia, he helped develop future NBA lottery pick and 2013 SEC Player of the Year Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
A Kansas native, Okeson was the starting point guard for Nevada’s 2003–04 team that won the WAC championship and reached the NCAA Sweet 16. He later played professionally in Europe and in the ABA and USBL before beginning his coaching career.
Okeson and his wife, Natalie, have a son, Gaines, and two daughters, Micah and Campbell.
