Jamion Christian

Jamion Christian (born April 18, 1982) is an American basketball coach, who is head coach for italian second league club Pallacanestro Trieste. He was most recently the head coach of the George Washington Colonials men's basketball team.[1] He previously was the head coach at Siena and Mount St. Mary's.[2]

Jamion Christian
Christian in 2016
Biographical details
Born (1982-04-18) April 18, 1982
Quinton, Virginia, U.S.
Playing career
2000–2003Mount St. Mary's
Position(s)Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2004–2006Emory and Henry (assistant)
2008–2011William & Mary (assistant)
2011–2012VCU (assistant)
2012–2018Mount St. Mary's
2018–2019Siena
2019–2022George Washington
2023-Pallacanestro Trieste
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2006–2008Bucknell (operations)
Head coaching record
Overall147–161 (.477)
Tournaments1–2 (NCAA)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2× NEC tournament (2014, 2017)
NEC regular season (2017)
Awards
NEC Coach of the Year (2017)
Ben Jobe Award (2017)

Biography

Christian was born and raised in Quinton, Virginia. As a shooting guard, he led New Kent High School to a Virginia High School League State Championship with a 26–0 record and earned the VHSL Group A State Player of the Year honors. Christian then became a shooting guard and a three-year captain for Mount St. Mary's under head coaches Jim Phelan and Milan Brown. Christian has a strong pedigree in athletics, Christian's father, John, was a standout track athlete at Virginia State University. The elder Christian is in the Virginia State University Hall of Fame and is a retired Head Coach of the Charles City High School Track & Field team. His mother was middle school teacher for New Kent County.

His brother Jarell Christian, is currently the Head Coach of the Maine Celtics in the NBA G League.

Assistant coaching career

Christian began his coaching career as an assistant at Emory and Henry College (2004–06), Bucknell (2006–08) and then William & Mary (2008–11). While with Coach Shaver and the Tribe, Christian recruited two of the most successful players in Tribe history: Brandon Britt and Marcus Thornton.

Christian then served as an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth (2011–12) under head coach Shaka Smart, helping the Rams to the third round of the 2012 NCAA tournament after upsetting #5 seed Wichita State in the 2nd round. Coach Christian also helped the rams to a 2012 CAA Tournament championship and finished 2011–12 season with the most wins in school history (29).

Head coaching career

Mount St. Mary's hired Christian as head coach on March 26, 2012. Christian implemented an up-tempo offense and “mayhem” defense, comparable to VCU's "havoc" defense popularized by Shaka Smart. After his first season at the helm, Christian was named finalist for the 2013 Joe B. Hall Award, presented to the top first-year head coach in Division 1.

During the 2012–13 season, the Mountaineers qualified for the NEC tournament. As a No. 5 seed, Mount St. Mary's upset Bryant and Robert Morris, but lost to Long Island University in the championship game.[3] During the 2013–14 season, the Mountaineers won the NEC tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first appearance since 2008.

Christian was also responsible for overseeing development of Rashad Whack (2014 NEC Tournament MVP and 2nd Team All-NEC; 2013 NEC All-Tournament Team), Julian Norfleet (2014 NEC All-Tournament Team and 2nd Team All-NEC), Sam Prescott (2014 NEC All-Tournament Team) and Shivaughn Wiggins (2013 NEC Rookie of the Year and CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Freshman of the Year).

On May 2, 2018, Christian replaced Jimmy Patsos as the head coach at Siena.[4] He guided the Saints to a nine-win turnaround from the previous year, finishing 17–16 overall and 11–7 in MAAC play, and a second-place finish. It would be his only season on the job as he accepted the head coaching position at George Washington on March 21, 2019. Christian was fired from George Washington on March 14, 2022, after three seasons.[5]

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers (Northeast Conference) (2012–2018)
2012–13 Mount St. Mary's 18–1411–7T–5th
2013–14 Mount St. Mary's 16–179–74thNCAA First Four
2014–15 Mount St. Mary's 15–1511–74th
2015–16 Mount St. Mary's 14–1910–85th
2016–17 Mount St. Mary's 20–1614–41stNCAA first round
2017–18 Mount St. Mary's 18–1412–6T–2nd
Mount St. Mary's: 101–95 (.515)67–39 (.632)
Siena Saints (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) (2018–2019)
2018–19 Siena 17–1611–7T–2nd
Siena: 17–16 (.515)11–7 (.611)
George Washington Colonials (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2019–2022)
2019–20 George Washington 12–206–12T–10th
2020–21 George Washington 5–123–511th
2021–22 George Washington 12–188–97th
George Washington: 29–50 (.367)17–26 (.395)
Total:147–161 (.477)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References
  1. "Jamion Christian Hired as GW Men's Basketball Head Coach". George Washington University Athletics.
  2. "2018–19 Men's Basketball Roster". Siena College Athletics.
  3. "Upset Saturday! LIU Brooklyn & Mount St. Mary's Advance To NEC Men's Basketball Title Game". Northeast Conference.
  4. "Jamion Christian Named Siena Basketball Head Coach". Siena College Athletics. May 2, 2018.
  5. Borzello, Jeff (March 14, 2022). "George Washington men's basketball coach Jamion Christian out after 3 seasons". ESPN. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
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