Birmingham Squadron Bring In New Head Coach, GM To Lead Pelicans G-League Development

The Birmingham Squadron are making some changes before the start of the season. T.J. Saint is being promoted to the lead chair as the team's new Head Coach and Billy Campbell will move into the General Manager of Basketball Operations office. Mery Andrade, Perry Huang, and former NBA player Jodie Meeks round out the coaching staff for the year.

Saint's first season as a head coach comes after spending the previous three seasons with the Pelicans’ G League affiliate as associate head coach (2020-22) and as an assistant coach (2019-20). Prior to joining the organization, Saint served as the Director of Basketball Strategy for the University of Georgia Men’s Basketball (2018-19) and as the video coordinator for the Detroit Pistons (2014-18).

Saint graduated from Belmont University, serving as a student assistant coach with the men’s basketball team from 2009-11. He then went to Butler University, where he worked as a graduate assistant coach while earning his master’s degree in effective teaching and leadership. Upon graduation, he was promoted to director of basketball operations with the Bulldogs for the 2013-14 season.

Check out the home game schedule 🗓#SquadUp | #legacyarena pic.twitter.com/GWR9jRVAkt
— Birmingham Squadron (@GleagueSquadron) September 2, 2022

Campbell enters his fourth season with New Orleans Pelicans G-League affiliate. He was the Squadron’s assistant general manager for the team’s inaugural year in Birmingham last season and the assistant general manager of the Erie BayHawks from 2019-21. The Atlanta, Georgia native brings extensive scouting and basketball operations experience to the Squadron, including four years with the Washington Wizards as a basketball operations and coaches’ assistant (2006-10).

Campbell also spent four years as a basketball operations coordinator with the NBA G-League office (2012-16). He also served as the director of basketball operations for the Texas Legends (2018-19) after graduating with a degree in economics from the University of Virginia. He played four seasons (2002-06), appearing in 49 games with the Cavaliers.

Congratulations to Billy Campbell on his promotion to General Manager of Basketball Operations for the Squadron after serving as Birmingham’s assistant general manager last season!

Full release: https://t.co/z6WG8O4XPS #SquadUp pic.twitter.com/iHK4NoLGFk
— Birmingham Squadron (@GleagueSquadron) September 15, 2022

Andrade joined the organization prior to the 2019-20 season after serving as an assistant coach for the University of San Diego Women’s Basketball team from 2015-19. The native of Lisbon, Portugal began coaching after a successful professional playing career that spanned over 10 seasons in both the WNBA and Europe. Andrade began her playing career with the WNBA's Cleveland Rockers after being drafted in 1999 with the 23rd overall pick. Andrade played for Cleveland from 1999-2002 and played one season with the Charlotte Sting (2004).

Additionally, her international career included multiple stops in Italy from 2001-12, and again during the 2014-15 season, and Portugal during the 2012-13 season. Before playing professionally, Andrade played four seasons (1995-99) at Old Dominion University, where she helped the Lady Monarchs to the Sweet 16 three times and to the national championship game as a senior in 1999.

Huang returns for his fourth season as an assistant coach with the organization. Huang brings experience from the WNBA, G-League, international, and collegiate levels. He was most recently an assistant coach/manager of video and player development with the Seattle Storm. Prior to joining the Erie Bayhawks and Storm, the Monterey, Calif. native has had stints with the former G-League Northern Arizona Suns (2017-18) as an assistant coach and BC Prievidza of the Slovak Extraliga (2017-18) as a video coordinator,

Huang's first professional coaching job was with the Santa Cruz Warriors as a coaching associate (2014-16). Huang began his career as an assistant men's basketball coach for four years with Cal State San Marcos and Monterey Peninsula College after graduating from Fresno Pacific University.

Meeks enters his first season as an assistant coach with the Squadron after most recently appearing in 18 games for the G-League’s Raptors 905, averaging 10.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 20 minutes per game during the 2021-22 season. Selected 41st overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2009 NBA Draft after a three-year collegiate career at the University of Kentucky, the 10-year NBA veteran appeared in 539 career regular season games with Milwaukee, Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit, Orlando, Washington, and Toronto, posting averages of 9.3 points, 1.1 assists, and 2.1 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per contest.

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