Linfield College Men's Basketball

Joining the Linfield staff in the spring of 2025, Elijah Gurash embarks on his first collegiate head coaching assignment as he takes the reins of the Linfield men’s basketball program for the start the 2025-26 season.   Gurash arrived at Linfield after serving one year as the lead assistant coach at Buena Vista University, a Division III institution in Storm Lake, Iowa.   No stranger to the Pacific Northwest, Gurash served as a top assistant at Whitworth University for six seasons. During his time in Spokane, the Pirates went a combined 116-41, captured three Northwest Conference championships, three NWC Tournament titles and reached the NCAA Division III Tournament four times.   Prior to joining the Whitworth staff, Gurash spent a combined 15 years coaching at the high school level in North Carolina, West Virginia and Washington state, first as an assistant boys basketball coach for seven seasons and later as a head varsity coach for eight seasons.   An all-state basketball player, Gurash began his collegiate playing career at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. He concluded his playing career at Northwest Christian University (now Bushnell University) in Eugene.   Gurash earned a bachelor’s degree from Bushnell in 2001 and went on to complete a master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 2007. He has also published his own book, entitled, “Jesus is a Baller: Reflections on the Fundamentals of Basketball.” Elijah, and his wife, Katy, are raising three children: Xander, Oliver and Isla Grace.  

Reed Brown enters his first year as assistant coach for Linfield men's basketball, beginning his tenure in April 2026. Brown comes to Linfield after previously serving as a graduate assistant coach with the Montana State Bobcats men's basketball team for two seasons from 2024-2026. While pursuing his degree in sport and coaching sciences, the Bobcats went 33-32 overall in his two seasons, including a 21-15 record in the Big Sky, earning two appearances in the Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. With the Bobcats, Brown assisted with player development for all position groups, developed analytic reports used for scouting, tracked offensive efficiency during games, and assisted with program operations. The Portland, Oregon, native worked as an assistant coach at Northwest Conference rival Whitworth University for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, responsible for player development, scouting reports, practice planning, in-game adjustments, and recruiting. He helped lead the Pirates to a 20-9 record in the NWC, winning the NWC Tournament title and appearing in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.  Brown competed on the Whitworth men's basketball team from 2017-2021 while Linfield men's basketball head coach worked as an assistant coach with the program, and was named an NWC Scholar Athlete in four consecutive seasons. In his playing career, he competed in a total of 74 games, making 17 starts. The 2019-2020 season saw Brown make 17 starts in 29 games played, averaging 5.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per-game, while shooting 52.7% from the field and 45.6% from beyond the arc.  He graduated with his bachelor's degree in business administration from Whitworth in 2021 and his master's degree in sport and coaching sciences from Montana State in 2026. 

First-year assistant coach Matt Gehrke joined the Linfield men’s basketball coach staff in the fall of 2025. He brings over 20 years of coaching experience at the AAU level in the greater Portland area.   Gehrke is the founder and director of G-Elite Basketball, an AAU program that has helped develop young student-athletes into successful collegiate basketball players.   He also was a varsity assistant at the high school level, competing in the Metro League.   A U.S. Army veteran and licensed nurse, Gehrke uses his past experiences to help shape his leadership, discipline, and ability to mentor athletes through hardship.