Cody Toppert Season 2024-25
Cody Toppert, who has extensive coaching experience on both the professional and collegiate levels, joined Head Coach Matt McMahon’s staff at LSU as an assistant coach in April of 2022.
Toppert, 40, came to LSU after three seasons as an assistant coach at Memphis.
Toppert was involved at LSU in game planning, scouting and recruiting both high school and transfer portal players for the Tigers.
At Memphis, Toppert played a large role in game planning and created and managed the team’s analytics program which was among the most advanced in college basketball. In addition to scouting and analytics, Toppert organized and ran the team’s Player Development Program while assisting in the implementation of the team’s Pace and Space Progressive Offensive philosophies.
Memphis advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2022 for the first time since 2014, defeating Boise State in the first round before falling to Gonzaga (78-82) with a sweet sixteen birth on the line.
The 2021 season concluded with the Tigers winning the NIT Championship, winning 13 or their final 15 games of the season.
During Toppert’s tenure with Memphis he was named to the Athletics’ 2022 prestigious 40 under 40 list of rising stars in college basketball. He was also selected to participate in the Top Connect Symposium for some of the top assistant coaches in college basketball.
Toppert joined Memphis after serving as an assistant coach and director of player development for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.
During Toppert’s time with Phoenix, he oversaw the Development Plans of each player on the roster and was instrumental in the development of Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges and T.J. Warren.
Cody’s time with the Suns saw Devin Booker average a career-high 26.6 points (7th in NBA) and a career-high 6.8assists (14th in NBA), as one of four players to average at least 25 points and 6 assists that season joining James Harden, LeBron James, and Damian Lillard. Devin also posted a career-high 58.4% TS and produced 43.9 points per game (scored or assisted, 97th percentile).
Bridges had a steal-to-turnover ratio of 1.84 (No. 2 in the NBA) while becoming the first Suns’ rookie to amass 100 or more three-pointers and 100 or more steals in the same season.
Warren shot 42.8 percent from three during Toppert’s season with the team, an increase from his 28.3 percent career average. He made 77 treys during the 2017-18 season, compared to 79 three-pointers the previous four seasons.
Prior to joining the Suns’ NBA staff, Toppert was named the head coach for the Phoenix Sun’s NBA G-League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns. During his tenure the Northern Arizona Suns’ set the franchise record for wins and saw a record five players promoted to an NBA roster during the 2017-18 season, also leading the league in unique player call-ups. The Suns led the league in three-pointers made per game (14.9) and finished second in scoring at 119.3 points per game.
Toppert landed in Arizona following two seasons serving as an assistant with the Houston Rocket’s NBA G-League affiliate – the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. In 2017 the Vipers won the Western Conference, before falling to Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet’s Raptors 905 team in a decisive game three of the NBA G-League Finals.
Toppert also put together an NBA pre-draft program that has produced 12 NBA Draft picks. During which time he worked with three of the four highest paid undrafted players in NBA history (Tyler Johnson, Royce O’Neale, and Robert Covington).
Toppert has an extensive playing resume’ starting in high school at Albuquerque (New Mexico) Academy (1998-2001), where he was a two-time USA Today All-American and the state’s 2001 Player of the Year. He was invited to play in the Adidas ABCD Camp and named the top shooting guard at the Five-Star Basketball Camp.
He was a four-year starter at Cornell (2001-05) where he set a school mark for three-pointers (237) and games played (108). He remains among the school’s top career scorers with 1,232 points.
Toppert’s professional career began in what then was the NBA’s developmental league with the hometown Albuquerque Thunderbirds, helping the team to a league title in 2006. After departing the United States, Toppert would go on to play in Spain, Italy, New Zealand, and Germany.
Toppert comes from an athletic family as his father (Bob), mother (Linda) and brother (Chad), all played basketball for the University of New Mexico. In addition, his wife, Brittany, was one of most highly regarded high school soccer players in the state of New Mexico before continuing her career at Arizona State, being named All-Pac 10 and playing pro soccer internationally following her graduation.
Toppert and his wife Brittany are the parents of two daughters, Kinsley (7), and Riley (5).
The Toppert File
Season at LSU: Second (in 2023-24)
Birthdate: Jan. 10, 1983
Wife: Brittany
Children: Kinsley, Riley
Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Education: Cornell, 2005
College Coaching Experience
2019-22: Assistant Coach, Memphis
2022- : Assistant Coach, LSU
Professional Coaching Experience
2015-17: Assistant Coach, RGV Vipers (Houston Rockets NBA G-League Affiliate)
2017-18: Head Coach, NAZ Suns (Phoenix Suns NBA G-League Affiliate)
2018-19: Assistant Coach, Phoenix Suns