St. Martin's University Men's Basketball

Aaron Landon, the 2022 GNAC Coach of the Year, has led a remarkable turnaround in short time after a last place GNAC finish in his first season as head coach of the Saints (2019-20). Since then, Landon has captured two GNAC Regular Season Championships (2021-22 & 2022-23), reached a #1 National Ranking (January 2024), and led Saint Martin’s to the third NCAA Regional appearance in program history (2023). Saint Martin’s has held a Top 25 ranking in 31 of the last 48 national polls, with an overall record of 82-36 during that four-year span. Landon is the only coach in Saint Martin’s history to win multiple Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. In 2024 Saint Martin’s finished 21-8, reaching the postseason for a third consecutive season. The Saints were ranked top 25 in the nation for 11 weeks including the historic milestone on January 22 when Saint Martin’s reached #1 in the nation for the first time ever. The explosive Saints offense averaged over 83 points per game, the most since Saint Martin’s University joined the NCAA. The historic 2023 campaign saw the 24-7 Saints become the fourth program in GNAC history to win consecutive GNAC regular season championships. Saint Martin’s spent nine weeks ranked top 25 in the nation. The Saints clinched the GNAC Regular Season Championship with a 15-3 record before reaching the championship game of the GNAC Tournament for the second time in program history. The Saints enjoyed a high powered offense that ranked 10th nationally in made threes per game, 17th nationally in Assists per game, and led the GNAC in scoring offense, assists, made threes and scoring margin during conference play. In 2022 Saint Martin’s captured the second GNAC Regular Season Championship in program history after being picked 9th in the preseason poll. The Saints were among the best shooting teams in the nation, their 42.5% clip from behind the arc led the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and was fourth in NCAA DII. On the other side of the ball, Saint Martin’s limited opponents to 68.7 points per game and led the GNAC in rebounding defense. Over the last three years Saint Martin’s has also established itself as a high achieving program academically. 18 student athletes have been named to GNAC Academic All-Conference teams over the past four years. Saint Martin’s has had 36 players named to the NABC Honors Court during that span and secured the NABC Academic Excellence Award in each of the last five seasons. Men’s Basketball has finished with the highest gpa among men’s sports programs at Saint Martin’s University for the last three years. The 2020-21 GNAC season was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions, however in January 2021 Landon worked with school officials to schedule a dozen games against a mix of NCAA DI and NCAA DII opponents.   Landon faced a challenging first year in 2019-20, his young Saints finished last in the GNAC, and in March all students were required to leave campus and finish the year taking online classes due to Covid-19.  Prior to his arrival at Saint Martin’s, Coach Landon enjoyed a decorated career as a junior college head coach. Landon served six seasons as the head coach at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Washington. At SPSCC, Landon transformed a program that finished 2-22 in his first season into a three-time NWAC West Region Champion. Coach Landon was named NWAC West Region Coach Of The Year in 2017, 2018, and 2019. From 2015-2019 the South Puget Sound Community College was a dominant force in the NWAC. The Clippers went 49-7 in the West Region and 93-26 overall in the NWAC during that time. SPSCC won three West Region Championships and advanced to the postseason every year, earning three number one seeds and two trips to the NWAC Quarterfinals. During his time at SPSCC Landon served as an Academic Advisor and instructor on campus. Coach Landon set several records during his tenure at SPSCC and departed as the programs all-time win leader with 102 wins.  Before Landon took over the SPSCC program in 2013, he was an assistant coach at former GNAC member Concordia University (Ore.) for two seasons. Landon was primarily tasked with recruiting and brought in a group that enjoyed the best record in program history. Before his time in Portland, Landon coached high school basketball in California at Marina High School from 2008-2011. His first college coaching experience came as an assistant at Santa Monica College in California, in 2007.  Landon's playing career started at Monterey Peninsula College from 2003-2005, before transferring to Division-III University of La Verne for his final two seasons. Landon holds a Bachelor degree in Political Science from University of La Verne and a Masters degree in Education Leadership from Concordia University.

Tyler Velasquez enters his sixth full season coaching at Saint Martin’s in 2025-26. Velasquez has been instrumental in building a championship program since his arrival in 2019. After winning the 2022 GNAC Championship, Velasquez was promoted to Associate Head Coach on October 27, 2022. Most recently in 2024-25 season, Velasquez stepped into the role of Acting Head Coach while Saint Martin’s Head Coach Aaron Landon was on medical leave. Under challenging conditions, Velasquez guided the Saints to 19 wins, good for the sixth most wins in a season during Saint Martin’s NCAA DII era. During his time at Saint Martin’s, Velasquez has worked tirelessly to grow a last place team into a two-time GNAC champion. During the last four seasons, Saint Martin’s has won more games than any other team in the GNAC (83). Coach Velasquez arrived at Saint Martin’s in June 2019, two weeks after Head Coach Aaron Landon was hired to lead the program. Since then, Velasquez has built a reputation as a dynamic recruiter, coach and educator. Coach Velasquez built an academic progress model that has led to stellar performance in the classroom. On the court, Saint Martin’s has become a consistent Top 25 team, nationally ranked in 31 of the last 48 polls. The Saints made history in 2024 being ranked #1 in America for the first time ever. Saint Martin’s is only the fourth program in GNAC History to win “Back to Back” Regular Season Championships (2021-22 & 2022-23). In 2024 Saint Martin’s finished 21-8, reaching the postseason for a third consecutive season. The Saints were ranked top 25 in the nation for 11 weeks, enjoying an explosive offense that averaged over 83 points per game. In 2023 Saint Martin’s earned its second consecutive GNAC Regular Season Championship with a record of 15-3 in GNAC play, and 24-7 overall on the season. The Saints were nationally ranked for nine weeks during the season, and returned to the NCAA tournament for the third time in program history. This followed a historical campaign in 2022 that saw the Saints win the GNAC Regular Season Championship after being picked 9th in the preseason poll. Coach Velasquez has been a key figure in developing the high-powered Saints offense that has appeared on national leaderboards in several categories. Velasquez has mentored some of the best guards in the GNAC over the past few years. Jaden Nielsen-Skinner is now second all-time in GNAC assists, Kyle Greeley was a three-time All-GNAC selection, Alex Schumacher was All-Conference in 2022, and Branden Bunn was named GNAC Newcomer of the Year in 2023. Since the return from Covid (2021-present) Saint Martin’s has averaged over 80 points per-game over four seasons. Coach Velasquez is involved in every aspect of the program, and manages the Academic Progress of student athletes within the program. In 2023-24 the Saints had a team GPA of 3.39, a program record 10 players were named to the NABC Honors Court, and five players were Academic All-GNAC awards. The Saints finished the 2022-23 year with a team cumulative GPA of 3.38, this led all men’s sports programs at Saint Martin’s. The Saints were at the top of the GNAC with five players were named to the Academic All-GNAC Team. The Saints also led the GNAC with nine players named to the NABC Honors Court. Saint Martin’s received the NABC Academic Excellence Award for the third consecutive year. In 2021-22 the Saints finished the year with a cumulative GPA of 3.31, five players were named to the Academic All-GNAC team. The Saints received the NABC Academic Excellence award and landed eight players named to the NABC Honors court in 2021-22. The Men’s Basketball program combined with other male teams at Saint Martin’s to bring home an Academic Championship for GNAC Men’s Sports in the spring of 2022. Prior to Saint Martin’s Velasquez spent two seasons as an assistant coach at South Puget Sound Community College. While at SPSCC, Velasquez helped lead the Clippers to an overall record of 48-13 and a pair of NWAC West Region Championships. Landon credits Velasquez as the architect of their full court press that led the entire NWAC in scoring defense in both seasons.  At SPSCC, Velasquez assisted in every aspect of the program while also working full time in student services. In addition to his coaching role at SPSCC, Velasquez also coached with Washington Supreme, one of the top AAU programs in the state.  Prior to his time at SPSCC, Velasquez worked two seasons in the NBA as a video analyst for the Portland Trailblazers  Velasquez enjoyed a successful playing career in college, starting at Cabrillo College (CA) where he won two conference titles, was named conference MVP and selected to the all-state team. Velasquez then transferred to Concordia University in 2012 where he went on to become an all-conference point guard. Velasquez won 48 games during his two years at Concordia and led the Cavaliers to their best season in program history (25-7) winning the conference championship in 2014-15.