Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- wgipe@richmond.edu
- Phone:
- 287-6303
Assistant Coach, University of Richmond, 2022-present
Director of Program Development & Recruiting, University of Richmond, 2021-2022
Director of Program Development, University of Richmond, 2019-21
Video Coordinator, University of Richmond, 2016-19
Graduate Assistant, Virginia Tech University, 2014-16
Gipe was promoted to assistant coach in April 2022 following six seasons on the Richmond staff. At 28, Gipe became the second-youngest assistant coach in the Atlantic 10. In addition to focusing on recruiting, scouting, and player development, Gipe directs the team's non-conference scheduling process.
In 2023-24, Gipe and the Spiders won the Atlantic 10 regular season title, Richmond's first since joining the conference in 2001, and earned the No. 1 seed in the A-10 Championship. Richmond finished 23-10 overall and 15-3 in A-10 play, setting a school record for conference wins in a season, and earned a berth in the NIT. UR received votes in the AP Top 25 poll on two occasions, first during an 11-game win streak in late January and again during a separate six-game win streak in early March. Gipe helped a pair of Spiders, Jordan King and Neal Quinn, earn All-Conference honors. King was also named A-10 Co-Player of the Year and Dji Bailey shared the award for Most Improved Player in the A-10.
In his first season as an assistant coach, Gipe and the Spiders posted wins over NCAA Tournament teams Drake and FDU in the regular season and defeated Massachusetts by 33 points in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, the second-largest margin of victory in the event's history.
Gipe served as Richmond's Director of Program Development for three seasons from 2019-22, adding Director of Recruiting to his title in August 2021 after he took on responsibility for coordinating all aspects of the program's recruiting operations. Gipe also managed team travel, supervised student managers, and served as a liaison to the Academics, Business, and Compliance offices of Richmond Athletics. In his final season as the team's Director of Program Development in 2021-22, Gipe helped lead the Spiders to an Atlantic 10 championship and a win vs Big Ten champion Iowa in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
During the 2020-21 season, Gipe was responsible for managing all travel and logistics for the team during the COVID-19 pandemic, which required changes to nearly all team operations. Richmond finished the season with a 14-9 record and advanced to the NIT Quarterfinals. During the non-conference season, the Spiders were ranked as high as 19th in the AP Top 25 poll, their best ranking since 1957.
In Gipe's first season as the team's Director of Program Development in 2019-20, the Spiders went 24-7, tying a school record for regular-season wins, and were a presumptive NCAA Tournament team before the postseason was canceled due to the coronavirus.
Gipe originally joined Richmond as the team's Video Coordinator prior to the 2016-17 season. He spent three seasons in that position.
A native of Wise, Virginia, Gipe spent five seasons at Virginia Tech, three as a student manager and two as a graduate assistant with the men’s basketball program. In Blacksburg, Gipe managed recruiting mail lists and recruit database organization and assisted head coach Buzz Williams in a variety of off-court duties.
He is a two-time graduate of Virginia Tech, earning a BA in History in 2014 and a Master of Public Administration in 2016. In 2014, he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Gipe is married to the former Amber Dougherty of Gate City, Virginia. The pair has a son, Leo.
