GCU Athletics

James Navalance

Assistant Coach | 1st Season 

Coach James Navalance returns to Georgian Court Women's Basketball. He was a mainstay for five years from 2018-19 - 2022-23 working his way up after starting as a student manager to an assistant coach. 

Navalance comes back to Georgian Court having gained a variety of experience working as a collegiate coach and Director of Basketball Operations. He was most recently the Assistant Coach / Director of Basketball Operations at UMass-Lowell for the last year. 

In Navalance's previous position at Montverde, he was responsible for dealing with practice film for the team, scouting reports for coaches and player development.  Navalance also managed the cutting and organization of film, as well as the statistical analysis. During his tenure, Montverde reached the Chipotle High School Nationals during the 2024-25 season.  

Prior to Montverde, Navalance served as the director of basketball operations for the women's basketball team at Rider University. Navalance oversaw the operations for the team, including travel, meals, equipment and gym setup. Other responsibilities in that role included coordinating the video and statistical organization, as well as assisting in player development and recruiting internationally.

Navalance also got an exceptional opportunity as a lead intern with Driven Basketball and the NBA Pre-Draft Process in 2022. He helped coordinate day-to-day operations and gym organization, as well as assisted in player development for college players, pre-draft players and NBA players. This experience gave Navalance the chance to work in player development with professional and NBA players, including Damian Lillard, Cam Johnson, Anfernee Simons, Doug McDermott, Max Abmas and many more.  

Navalance earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Georgian Court in 2020 and his master's degree in communication and digital marketing, also from Georgian Court, in 2021.