Emmanuel Tommy

Emmanuel Tommy is in his fifth season as Nebraska’s Director of Player Development since joining the staff in 2022. In his role, Tommy assists with all facets in the day-to-day operation of the Husker program, including on-court coaching and individual player development, and helps create educational programming for basketball student-athletes.

During his tenure, the Huskers have won 20-plus games and reached postseason play in each of the past three seasons, including a school-record 28-7 mark and the program’s first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2026. NU has placed in the top three of the Big Ten Conference in two of the past three years, including a runner-up finish in 2025-26, the program’s best conference finish in more than three decades.  Off the court, Nebraska has had every student athlete make the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team for their work in the community during his four years on staff.  The basketball program was a finalist for the 2023 Herman Men’s GPA Award, which recognizes the highest team GPA on campus, while NU has had 22 Academic All-Big Ten honorees over the last three seasons.

Tommy came to Nebraska from Alabama A&M, where he served as an assistant coach during the 2021-22 campaign. He helped the Bulldogs jump from four conference wins to a 10-8 mark and a fifth-place finish in 2021-22. Tommy assisted in the development of Jalen Johnson, who earned first-team All-SWAC honors in 2022. 

Prior to joining the Bulldogs’ staff, he worked on the administrative side in the Division I ranks at both McNeese State (2020-21) and South Alabama (2019-20). At McNeese, he was the Director of Basketball Operations, where he was responsible for daily operations, including road trip logistics, while assisting in opponent scouting and player personnel reports and overseeing the academic component of the program. At South Alabama, he served as the director of recruiting and assistant director of operations where he coordinated official and unofficial recruit visits and had a hand in scouting and player personnel reports and travel operations. He helped South Alabama recruit the best class in the Sun Belt Conference while helping USA go 20-11, the first 20-win season for the program since 2008-09. 

Before moving up to the Division I level, Tommy worked at the high school, junior college and Division III ranks. In 2018-19, he was an assistant at Centre College, helping the Division III program to a 23-8 record and a Southern Athletic Association regular-season title in 2019. He was an assistant at Godwin Heights (Mich.) High School for six seasons, as the program went 158-12 in that time, winning seven conference, five district and four regional titles in addition to a 2015 Michigan Class B State Championship. While there he coached four AP and six Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) All-State selections, 20 all-conference honorees and a pair of Grand Rapids area Player of the Year choices. He also served a year as an assistant at Grand Rapids Community College, helping the school to an 18-11 and a Region VIIII Championship Game in 2014-15. 

Tommy began his coaching career at Western Michigan as a graduate assistant and was part of back-to-back Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Division Champions in 2007-08 and 2008-09. While there he was responsible for day-to-day operations, assisting with on-court workouts, practices, scouting and video. He also helped in the development of future MAC Player of the Decade David Kool. Tommy also worked with several high-profile high school camps, including the John Calipari Basketball Camp (2017-18) and John Thompson III Basketball Camp (2016). Additionally, he worked at the AAU level with the Grand Rapid Storm (Mich.) from 2010-14 and had the opportunity to coach players such as current Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker.

Tommy earned his undergraduate degree in public relations in 2008 from Western Michigan and his master’s in physical education & sports studies from WMU in 2010. He and his wife, Rachel, have a son, Jethro, and a daughter, Carmela.