James Whitford
James Bryce Whitford[1] (born July 23, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and the former head coach of the Ball State Cardinals men's basketball program. Before he was hired at Ball State, Whitford served as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio), Xavier, and Arizona.
Current position | |
---|---|
Title | Head coach |
Biographical details | |
Born | July 23, 1971 |
Alma mater | Wisconsin (1994) |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
1997–2005 | Miami (OH) (assistant) |
2005–2009 | Xavier (assistant) |
2009–2011 | Arizona (assistant) |
2011–2013 | Arizona (associate HC) |
2013–2022 | Ball State |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 131–148 |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
3 MAC West Division (2016, 2017, 2020) | |
Coaching career
While enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Whitford spent three seasons as a student manager for the Badgers men's basketball team. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1994.[2]
Whitford's first professional coaching experience was with the Miami RedHawks men's basketball program. Starting as an administrative assistant 1994, he became an assistant coach in 1997 and advanced to top assistant in 1998.[3]
In 2005 Whitford left Miami for Xavier, where he spent four seasons under head coach Sean Miller before following Miller to Arizona in April 2009.[4] After his first two seasons at Arizona Whitford was promoted to associate head coach, a position he held for another two years before taking the head coaching position at Ball State in April 2013.[2][5] On March 14, 2022, Ball State fired Whitford after nine years as head coach. [6] Whitford finished his time at Ball State compiling an overall record of 131–145 (.475) and a conference record of 66–90 (.423).
Head coaching record
Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ball State Cardinals (Mid-American Conference) (2013–2022) | |||||||||
2013–14 | Ball State | 5–25 | 2–16 | 6th (West) | |||||
2014–15 | Ball State | 7–23 | 2–16 | 6th (West) | |||||
2015–16 | Ball State | 21–14 | 10–8 | T–1st (West) | CIT Quarterfinals | ||||
2016–17 | Ball State | 21–13 | 11–7 | T–1st (West) | CIT First Round | ||||
2017–18 | Ball State | 19–13 | 10–8 | 3rd (West) | |||||
2018–19 | Ball State | 16–17 | 6–12 | 5th (West) | |||||
2019–20 | Ball State | 18–13 | 11–7 | T–1st (West) | |||||
2020–21 | Ball State | 10–13 | 8–9 | 8th | |||||
2021–22 | Ball State | 14–17 | 9–10 | 6th | |||||
Ball State: | 131–148 (.470) | 69–93 (.426) | |||||||
Total: | 131–148 (.470) | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
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References
- "People Directory".
- "James Whitford Profile". The University of Arizona Wildcats Official Athletic Site. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
- "Miami Redhawk assistant joins Xavier". Xavier University. June 3, 2005.
- Rubenstein, Alan (April 11, 2009). "Sean Miller Adds Two Xavier Assistants to His Arizona Staff". Bleacher Report.
- Rosenblatt, Zach (April 8, 2013). "Arizona basketball assistant head coach Whitford pursues head coach opportunity at Ball State". Arizona Daily Wildcat.
- "Ball State announces search for new men's basketball head coach; Whitford will not return".