When Director of Athletics Tanner Gardner appointed Ed Schilling as the head coach of Pepperdine’s Men’s Basketball program last April, the program was in a transitional period.
One of 14 players on the 2023-24 active roster would return the following year, and Pepperdine Athletics was preparing for Gardner to take the baton from Steve Potts as he prepared for retirement, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Schilling, who has a long coaching career in basketball, came from Grand Canyon University as an assistant coach and left a team that ended the 2023-24 season with a 30-5 record for the Waves, who finished the same season 13-20, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“We want to win in year one, but our goal is to win in the long term, not to win immediately,” Gardner said. “In order to do that, you need to focus more on culture building in the first place.”
Men’s Basketball tipped off the 2024-25 season with a slow start, a 2-6 record through their first 8 games. The team was able to turn it around and get three wins in a row, improving to 5-6, but during that time, Pepperdine experienced a natural disaster.
The Malibu area and Pepperdine were affected by the Franklin Fire on Dec. 10, following the second of those three wins. This fire would be the first of two that the team was affected by during the basketball season.
Men’s Basketball finished out the month of December with one more win and three losses. Their final loss of the month was a close one, 89-82, against No. 19 Gonzaga University, 89-82.
Pepperdine opened the new year with a win and a loss before Jan. 7, when the Palisades Fire broke out. The fire affected the basketball team, changing its regular operations and making it hard to focus on the season, said redshirt senior forward Boubacar Coulibaly.
Coulibaly said the difficulties caused by the fire, such as guys sleeping in the gym or being in a hotel and not being able to go to the gym.
“We’ve had our share of adversity, but we’re trying to lay a foundation for future success, and I think we’re doing that,” Schilling said.
Men’s Basketball returned to operations after the fire and lost their next three matchups, falling to a season record of 7-13.
Pepperdine followed up the three-game skid with two wins but then lost seven of their next eight, placing them at a season record of 10-19 and a conference record of 4-12.
Both Gardner and Schilling said they have their eyes focused on long-term success rather than immediate success, especially in Schilling’s first year. One of the reasons Gardner hired Schilling was because of his ability to develop players.
“What Ed is best at is developing players,” Gardner said. “He is creating [a] culture of improvement where the guys that come in are getting better, and then the guys are increasingly playing better together over the years.”
Senior forward Stefan Todorovic, who transferred from the University of San Francisco, saw a jump in numbers from the previous season. Todorovic averaged 3.8 points per game for the Dons and improved to 18.3 points per game this season for the Waves while being second in points per game in the conference, according to ESPN.
“We really built that relationship, a relationship based on trust, where he gave me full confidence,” Todorovic said. “Everything just falling in a place when you have a coach who gives you freedom and confidence.”
Schilling has also established a culture of faith for Men’s Basketball, Coulibaly said.
“This year, the culture is pretty different,” Coulibaly said. “We pray before and after every game — we do chapel.”
Coulibaly believes that this helped the team focus more and free their mind before they get into a game.
Men’s Basketball ended the 2024-25 regular season with a 10-21 record. Following the regular season the team had a run in the WCC Tournament, pulling off upsets through the first three rounds but ultimately exiting in the semi-final.
Schilling said he believes the success is going to come, and that Pepperdine is in it for the long haul.
“We just want to get better every day,” Schilling said. “This is one of those things that we know, it’s a long haul. We’re climbing the mountain, so to speak, and we just got to make steps every day.”
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Email Nick Charkhedian: nareg.charkhedian@pepperdine.edu
