Billy Bales joined the Utah State men’s basketball staff as the director of player development in April, 2021, and enters his second season with the Aggies in 2022-23.
Bales followed Odom from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where he assisted with daily scheduling, created social media content and fulfilled other duties where assigned. During his one year with the Retrievers, UMBC captured the America East regular season title, finishing with an overall mark of 14-6, including a 10-4 ledger in league play.
Prior to his time in Baltimore, Bales got his coaching start at his alma mater, Lenoir-Rhyne University. He spent two seasons (2018-20) as the graduate assistant under head coach Everick Sullivan. During his tenure, the Bears received an at-large bid to the school’s seventh NCAA D-II Tournament, advanced to their first South Atlantic Conference Championship game since 2005 and reached as high as No. 17 in the D-II rankings.
Bales, originally from Elizabethton, Tennessee, earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management and a master’s degree in university leadership from Lenoir-Rhyne. He was a four-year letterwinner for the Bears basketball team and led the team to an NCAA D-II Regional Final appearance during the 2015-16 season, under Odom.