Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Director of Mental Performance & Player Personnel
- Email:
- coachgib@uw.edu
Gibson Arnold brings a lifetime of experience joining UW Basketball in serving two key roles as general manager & director of mental performance.
Before Joining UW, Arnold spent five seasons in the front office of the Boston Celtics. Arnold assisted in many key acquisitions that helped build the 2024 NBA Championship Celtics; including the drafting of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Payton Pritchard.
“My time with Boston was amazing. Working with two of the brightest minds in basketball, Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens, I was able to see first-hand what it takes to build a championship team.”
While with the Celtics Arnold saw a trend in the modern-day athlete in the need for mental strength and emotional well-being. Wanting to be a part of the solution, he returned to school earning his Masters in Psychology from Harvard University. In 2020 Arnold founded MindBodySoul Sports Psychology & Performance. He has worked with NBA All Stars, Olympic Gold Medalists and professional and amateur athletes from every major sport, helping improve their performance and overall well-being through mental and emotional strength training.
Head Coach Danny Sprinkle first hired Arnold as the mental performance coach for the 2024 Mountain West Champion Utah State Aggies.
“What Danny and his staff did at Utah State was incredible. I am most proud of our team going 10-0 in games decided by 5 or less points. That requires great coaching and mentally tough athletes.”
Before working in the NBA, Arnold spent 20 years coaching on the sidelines as head coach at the University of Hawaii and College of Southern Idaho as well as an assistant coach at Provo High School, Utah Valley University, LMU, Vanderbilt, Pepperdine, and USC.
As head coach at Hawaii, Arnold inherited a last place team that had recorded three-straight losing seasons. In his first year, UH won 19 games and advanced to the second round of the CIT. For his work in turning the program around, Athlon Sports Magazine named Arnold as one of the top five hires in college basketball. Arnold was the quickest coach in UH history to win 50 games and was the only full-time coach to never have a losing season at Hawaii, going 72-55 (.567) in his four years in Honolulu.
In his two seasons at CSI, Arnold's teams won back-to-back SWAC championships. He was named two-time Region 18 Coach of the Year. His 2005 team went 33-3 and finished third in the Junior College National Championships. His overall record was 57-14 (.803).
In his coaching career Arnold has won one high school state championship, seven college conference championships, coached in the JUCO Final Four, NCAA Sweet 16, and advanced multiple times in the NCAA Tournament. He has recruited or coached 19 players who went on to play in the NBA, including All Stars DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic. As lead recruiter at USC, his work helped land ESPN's No. 1recruiting class in 2007.
Arnold is the son of former BYU head coach Frank Arnold, who won three National Championships at UCLA while working with legendary Coach John Wooden. Arnold was the Hawaii Gatorade Player of Year and USA Today and Converse Honorable Mention All American. He played college basketball at Arizona State, Utah Tech and UCSD. He is the proud father of five children Analise, Ashton, Ally, Addison and Ace. Analise was a stand-out Rugby player at BYU. Ashton is an assistant basketball coach at Eastern Florida State. Addison is a current member of the University of Arizona basketball team.
