United States Air Force Academy Men's Basketball

Coach Crispin Joe Crispin has been named head men’s basketball coach at Air Force, according to an announcement on March 18, 2026, from Director of Athletics Nathan Pine. Crispin was formally introduced as head coach on March 31, in a press conference and meet & greet event at the Falcon Stadium East Club at the Kucera Legacy Center. "We are thrilled to welcome Joe, Erin and their five children to the Air Force Academy family,” Pine said. “Coach Crispin is an impressive leader, and he separated himself from a deep candidate pool as absolutely the right person to lead Air Force men’s basketball into the future. He is passionate about player development, joy for the game, and using the sport of basketball to develop young men. He has been a successful leader as a collegiate and professional player, assistant and head coach, and I’m confident he will set the example and drive a culture of success for our men’s basketball program as we forge leaders of character for our Air Force and Space Force.” “I want to thank Nathan Pine and the executive leadership team for the incredible honor of leading the Air Force men’s basketball program as head coach,” Crispin said. “I am excited for the opportunity to build upon the mission of the Academy and to cultivate a brand of basketball that is distinctively Air Force: Fly. Fight. Win. I am confident that as we cultivate men of integrity, service, and excellence in everything, our team will compete at the highest level and play in a way that

Capt. Sid Tomes enters his second season in 2026-27 as the military assistant coach with Air Force men’s basketball. Tomes, a 2020 Academy grad., returns to the Air Force basketball program where he lettered four seasons for the Falcons from 2016-2020. He comes back to the Academy after spending the last three years at Fort Meade, Md., with the 75th Intelligence Squadron, where he led and executed real-world cyber defense operations supporting global missions. During his time at Fort Meade, Tomes stayed active in the basketball circuit, serving as an assistant coach at national powerhouse Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. During his three seasons under coach Stephen Turner at Gonzaga, he helped the Purple Eagles to be consistently ranked in the top-10 nationally. The 2024-25 team went 29-5, winning the DCSAA State Championship, and he helped send nine players to the Div. I college basketball level. In addition to coaching, Tomes also played in the Goodman Summer League in DC, which is regarded as one of the most competitive summer leagues in the country. Prior to his stint at Fort Meade, Tomes was stationed at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., with the 65th Cyberspace Squadron, where he contributed to building one of the first functional cyber missions in the Space Force. During his playing career at Air Force, Tomes was a three-year starter and team co-captain as a senior. A do-it-all combo guard, Tomes racked up 537 career points and 200 assists across 110

Dr. Carson Cunningham enters his first season as Associate Head Coach with Air Force basketball in 2026-27. Cunningham comes to the Academy from Missouri State. With two decades of coaching experience, including 15 as a head coach, Cunningham spent the previous two seasons, from 2024-26, at Missouri State as an assistant. Prior to his stint at Missouri State, he spent one season on the coaching staff at Army West Point in 2023-24. Cunningham spent 10 seasons as a collegiate head coach, most recently with Incarnate Word from 2018-23. He was the head coach at Carroll College in Montana from 2013-18 and led them to two NAIA Final Eight appearances. With an overarching coaching philosophy of competing hard, studying and serving, Cunningham’s took over at UIW after it had won three Div. I games. His teams at UIW were consistently among the nation’s top academic programs, earning the NABC Honors Court distinction multiple times, while boasting prolific national rankings in shooting categories. In season one, he guided the Cardinals to the top free throw percentage in Div. I (.810). In Cunningham’s second season (2019-20), Keaston Willis earned Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, a first in program history. In year three (2020-21), UIW turned in a 3.37 Fall GPA and qualified six players for Academic All-Conference consideration and qualified for the conference tournament. In Cunningham’s final season, UIW again made the conference tournament and boasted three academic all-con

Eric Brennan, Ed.D., enters his first season as an assistant coach with Air Force basketball in 2026-27. He comes to the Academy after three seasons as the head coach at Rowan University. Brennan was the head coach at Rowan from 2023-26. He spent eight years overall at Rowan, as he was also on the staff of current Air Force head coach Joe Crispin, who was the head coach at Rowan during the 2018-23 seasons. In his first campaign guiding the Profs in 2023-24, Rowan went 21-8 overall and reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the second year in a row. The team finished with a #15 ranking by D3Hoops.com, the highest national ranking at Rowan in 24 seasons. The Profs earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and won the first two games before acing top-ranked Hampden-Sydney in the third round. In NJAC play, Brennan guided the squad to a 13-5 conference record and its second straight regular-season title. Brennan received D3hoops.com Region 4 coach of the year honors. In addition, he and his assistant coaches were named the 2024 NJAC John K. Adams Coaching Staff of the Year. Brennan was named interim head coach in 2023 after serving as an assistant coach for five years on the Rowan staff. In the four seasons of competition (2020-21 was canceled due to pandemic), Rowan compiled an 84-31 record, won two conference championships and made three NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2022-23, Rowan won the NJAC title and reached the NCAA Sweet 16, marking the furthest advancement in the tourn

Jon Jordan enters his 10th season with Air Force men's basketball for the 2026-27 season. He is in his fifth season of his second stint at the Academy after ...

Michael Lyons enters his first season as an assistant coach with Air Force basketball in 2026-27. One of the program’s all-time greats, Lyons returns to the Academy where he graduated in 2013. Lyons is one of the greatest scorers in program history, he currently ranks fifth all-time in scoring (1,527 points) at Air Force. A four-year letterwinner from 2009-13, he led the team in scoring three-straight seasons, culminating in a senior season that saw him average 17.7 points per game, which is the most by a Falcon in the Mountain West era. Lyons scored 45 points against Colorado State in 2013, which is the fifth-most in a game in Academy history and the most ever in a conference game. He was named team MVP as a junior and senior and is the lone Falcon in the Mountain West era to earn All-Mountain West honors three times. He is also the last Falcon to earn first-team All-MW honors, doing so in 2013. During his senior year, he was named the USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week after averaging 36.0 points per game during a dominant stretch. He also earned All-Military Classic Tournament MVP honors and helped lead Air Force to two postseason CIT appearances. Lyons went on to play professionally in the NBA G League with the Erie BayHawks and was selected in the 2017 G-League Draft by the South Bay Lakers. In addition to his basketball career, Lyons served as a United States Air Force Acquisitions Officer, rising to the rank of Captain. His roles included Military Traini