From the moment Gordon Gibbons arrived in Atlanta in the spring of 2001 as the Clayton State men’s head basketball coach, the fortunes of the Laker men’s basketball program have been reversed for the better. In fact, Clayton State has gone from an also-ran program in the depths of the Peach Belt Conference to a program making its mark on the national Division II scene.

Gibbons, one of the NCAA Division II all-time winningest coaches, has led the Lakers to a an average of 20 victories the last six seasons, the best stretch in the school’s 15-year history. In his six seasons at the "Lake", Gibbons is already the winningest head coach in Clayton State history with an impressive mark of 121-57 for a winning percentage of .680.

Under his leadership, the Lakers are coming off six of the finest seasons since the program moved to NCAA Division II status with the Peach Belt Conference in 1995. Since his arrival, Gibbons’ teams are 71-35 in Peach Belt play. Prior to his arrival, the Lakers’ Peach Belt mark was 24-40 in four seasons.

Last season was perhaps the banner season for Clayton State at the Division II level. Gibbons led the Lakers to a 24-8 mark, their most victories in a season at the Division II mark, and the championship game of the 2007 Peach Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in program history. In addition, the team started the season on fire, winning its first 17 games and the Lakers were ranked for much of the season at No. 2 in the nation in Division II.
 
In fact, Clayton State spent the entire season ranked in the Division II Top 25 - the first time that has happened in program history. The 20-victory season was the third in the last four seasons for the Lakers, and they were ranked sixth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 61 points a game, seventh in the nation in steals, 15th in rebounding margin and 18th in field goal percentage defense.

The Lakers used this past season as a springboard from a successful 2005-06 campaign in which Gibbons had Clayton State ranked as high as 20th in the nation in NCAA Division II. He led the Lakers to a 21-7 overall record and 14-6 mark in the Peach Belt. It was the second 20-victory season in the last three seasons for Clayton State and the fourth in the program history. In addition, the Lakers ranked second in the nation in field goal percentage defense, 10th in steals, 12th in scoring margin and 17th in scoring defense.

In 2004-05, Clayton State finished with the second-best record in the 12-team Peach Belt Conference and was ranked ninth nationally in the preseason. The team captured the biggest win in school history, knocking off NCAA Division II defending national champion Kennesaw State, who at the time was ranked second in the nation, in an overtime thriller.

Gibbons led the Lakers to a 22-8 record in 2003-04, the third-best record in school history. The Lakers had several NCAA Division II school bests in 2003-04, including a 14-1 home record, an 11-1 start to the season; and a 13-game home winning streak. In addition, Clayton State was ranked eighth in the Final South Atlantic Region poll and finished the season ninth in the nation in scoring defense, 11th in field goal percentage defense and 15th in rebounding margin.

In addition, Gibbons won his 300th game in February of 2004, becoming the fastest Division II coach to reach the plateau. The Lakers won the 2001-02 PBC Championship with a 19-9 overall and a 15-4 mark in the league in Gibbons’ debut season at Clayton State.

Winning at the national level is not foreign to Gibbons, evidenced by his 10-year career at Florida Southern, where he had a 246-65 record (3rd winningest Div. II record) and posted nine 20-win seasons. His success on the national stage at Florida Southern included six trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament, two appearances in the Elite Eight and one appearance in the Final Four.

Gibbons averaged a 25-7 win-loss record at Florida Southern and a .790 percent winning percentage. His top season came as recent as the 1999-00 campaign when he led the Moccasins to a 32-2 record, a trip to the Elite Eight and a No. 1 national ranking in the final Division II poll.

In the 1998-99 season, Gibbons led his team to a 28-8 record and a third place finish in the country. Florida Southern defeated California State-San Bernandino in Louisville, KY in the third place game. His Florida Southern teams were either the regular season or tournament champions in the Sunshine State Conference in eight of his 10 years and were ranked in the top 20 six times.

Overall, in 16 seasons at the NCAA Division II level, Gibbons is 367-122 for a winning percentage of .754, ranking him third amongst all active head coaches at that level and ninth all-time.

In addition to team accomplishments, Gibbons’ players also excelled academically and athletically. In his 16 years as head coach and three years as an assistant coach, Gibbons had eight All-Americans, two National Players of the Year and one player drafted into the National Basketball Association. He also had 22 players play professional basketball in the United States and Europe.

Gibbons three times was selected the Division II Bulletin’s National Coach of the Month, and was a finalist for National Coach of the Year in 1999-00 by Basketball Times. He was also selected the 1995-96 NCAA South Region NABC Coach of the Year and is a three-time Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year. This past season, Gibbons was honored as the John "Whack" Hyder State of Georgia Men’s College Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club.

Prior to coaching at Florida Southern, Gibbons was an assistant at the University of South Florida for three years and was named interim head coach of the Sun Belt Conference Bulls during the 1979-80 season. He has also been a head coach at the professional, junior college and high school level.

In 13 years at the high school level at both Tampa Jesuit (1970-78) and Tampa Catholic (1982-87), he averaged over 20 wins per season, leading four teams to state "Final Four" appearances in Florida. He left the high school ranks in 1987 to join head coach George Scholz’s staff at Florida Southern as the top assistant coach. Gibbons spent three seasons as an assistant at Florida Southern before being elevated to head coach of the Mocs in 1990.

A native of Tampa, Fla., Gibbons played his collegiate basketball at Springfield (Mass.) College, receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from Springfield in 1968.

Gibbons and his wife Joyce have one daughter, Holly, 30, and one son, Jay, 27. Holly is a successful real estate broker in the Atlanta area, while Jay, who played for his father at both Florida Southern and Clayton State, is now an assistant men’s basketball coach at Savannah State.