Coach Tillette is a native New Orleanian and a 1968 graduate of St. Aloysius.  As a student athlete, Jimmy played football, basketball and baseball and was a captain of all three sports. He later received a baseball scholarship to Tulane University. He began his coaching career at Belle Chase High School in 1975 and then quickly moved to the Catholic League. Jimmy was an assistant basketball coach under Duane Reboul at Jeusit for eight years and then became the head basketball coach at De La Salle. At De La Salle he won 180 games and his 1986 team went 40-1 and won the state championship. Jimmy moved on to the collegiate world with assistant positions at Mississippi State, Tulane University and Samford University.  He became the head coach of Sanford University in 1998. Over 15 seasons, he led Samford to back to back NCAA tournament appearances and is the school’s winningest coach with 229 wins. This is Coach Tillette’s fifth year at Newman. Jimmy is the proud husband to Stephanie, father of Tristan, stepfather to Jack, and grandfather to three, Shea, Auryn and Cian.