Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Director of Operations
- Email:
- john.impelman@pepperdine.edu
- Phone:
- (310) 506-4161
John Impelman is headed into his 14th season working with the Pepperdine men’s basketball program in 2022-23. He’s held a variety of roles over the years, and currently serves as the director of operations.
He joined the Waves in 2008-09 as the team operations assistant/video coordinator under Tom Asbury. After leaving for a season, he came back as the director of operations for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons. He was promoted to assistant coach in 2013-14 by former head coach Marty Wilson, a position he held for five seasons. He was retained by Lorenzo Romar in 2018Â as the director of operations.
Â
“John brings a wealth of experience at this university,” said Romar in March 2018. “He’s very, very competent, and we’re fortunate that he wanted to stay on with us.”
Â
Said Impelman: “I’m extremely excited to continue on with Coach Romar and the new staff. I’m eager to assist in any way I can to help the program and am confident that my experience at Pepperdine will be an asset moving forward.”
Â
During the 2011-12 season, Impelman took on double-duty in addition to his director of operations position and filled in as an assistant coach when a spot opened up midway through the season.
Â
In between stints at Pepperdine, Impelman worked as the Director of Operations at Double Pump Inc. in Northridge, California, in 2010-11. Double Pump is widely known as running some of the premier club basketball teams and tournaments in the nation.
Â
Impelman graduated from Occidental in May 2008 with a degree in sociology. He was a four-year letterman who was part of squads that won SCIAC titles in 2007 and 2008 and went to three NCAA Division III Tournaments.
Â
He has worked at several local camps for many years, including as a coach at Tom Asbury’s and Ben Howland’s camps in 2009 and at the Pacific Coast Basketball Camp from 2003-08. He was a camp counselor for the Double Pump West Coast All-Star Camp in 2009, and helped manage one of the sites of the Double Pump Best of Summer Tournament, a major summer club competition.
Â
A native of Huntington Beach, Calif., he attended Ocean View High School. His father, Craig Impelman, was an assistant coach at Pepperdine for two seasons (1979-80 and 1980-81) along with Asbury under Jim Harrick. His great-grandfather is the late UCLA coaching legend John Wooden.
Â
Impelman earned a master’s degree in American studies from Pepperdine in 2010.
Â
He and his wife Katie have two children, Elizabeth and Carter.
Â
