Reggie Witherspoon (basketball)
Phillip Reginald Witherspoon (born February 21, 1961)[1] is the head coach of the Canisius College men's basketball team and the former head coach of the University at Buffalo men's college basketball team.
 Witherspoon at Alumni Arena in 2006 | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Canisius |
| Conference | MAAC |
| Record | 94–112 (.456) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | February 21, 1961 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Empire State College |
| Playing career | |
| Erie CC | |
| Wheeling Jesuit | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1984–1992 | Sweet Home HS (assistant) |
| 1992–1997 | Sweet Home HS |
| 1997–1999 | Erie CC |
| 1999–2013 | Buffalo |
| 2014–2015 | Alabama (assistant) |
| 2015–2016 | Chattanooga (assistant) |
| 2016–present | Canisius |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 292–340 (.462) 43–15 (.741) (NJCAA) |
| Tournaments | 1–1 (NIT) 0–2 (CBI) 3–3 (CIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
Witherspoon played college basketball at Erie Community College under John Beilein and then at Wheeling Jesuit under Jim O'Brien.[2]
He was the head coach at Erie Community College, and head coach and assistant coach at Sweet Home High School before he was hired as the interim head coach at Buffalo in December 1999. Witherspoon was named full-time head coach on March 10, 2000. He was the first African American named head coach of a varsity sports team in any Western New York suburban school district. He was fired after the 2012-13 season, finishing his 14 season run with a 198-228 record.[3] Witherspoon served one season as an assistant at Alabama under head coach Anthony Grant.[4] In 2015, Witherspoon was let go by Alabama when Grant was replaced by Avery Johnson. He was subsequently named as an assistant on Matt McCall's staff at UT-Chattanooga.[5]
In May 2016, Witherspoon was hired to replace the retiring Jim Baron at Canisius College.[6]
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erie Community College (NJCAA Region III) (1997–1999) | |||||||||
| 1997–98 | Erie CC | 19–10 | |||||||
| 1998–99 | Erie CC | 24–5 | |||||||
| Erie CC: | 43–15 (.741) | ||||||||
| University at Buffalo (Mid-American Conference) (1999–2013) | |||||||||
| 1999–00* | Buffalo | 3–20 (5–23) | 1–17 | 12th | |||||
| 2000–01 | Buffalo | 4–24 | 2–16 | 12th | |||||
| 2001–02 | Buffalo | 12–18 | 7–11 | 10th | |||||
| 2002–03 | Buffalo | 5–23 | 2–16 | 13th | |||||
| 2003–04 | Buffalo | 17–12 | 11–7 | 5th | |||||
| 2004–05 | Buffalo | 23–10 | 11–7 | T–2nd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 2005–06 | Buffalo | 19–13 | 8–10 | 8th | |||||
| 2006–07 | Buffalo | 12–19 | 4–12 | T–10th | |||||
| 2007–08 | Buffalo | 10–20 | 3–13 | 12th | |||||
| 2008–09 | Buffalo | 21–12 | 11–5 | T–1st | CBI First Round | ||||
| 2009–10 | Buffalo | 18–12 | 9–7 | T–3rd | |||||
| 2010–11 | Buffalo | 20–14 | 8–8 | T–5th | CIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| 2011–12 | Buffalo | 20–11 | 12–4 | 2nd | CIT Second Round | ||||
| 2012–13 | Buffalo | 14–20 | 7–9 | 8th | |||||
| Buffalo: | 198–228 (.465) | 96–142 (.403) | |||||||
| Canisius College (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) (2016–present) | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | Canisius | 18–16 | 10–10 | T–6th | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2017–18 | Canisius | 21–12 | 15–3 | T–1st | CBI First Round | ||||
| 2018–19 | Canisius | 15–17 | 11–7 | T–2nd | |||||
| 2019–20 | Canisius | 12–20 | 7–13 | 10th | |||||
| 2020–21 | Canisius | 7–6 | 7–5 | 4th | |||||
| 2021–22 | Canisius | 11–21 | 7–13 | T–10th | |||||
| 2022–23 | Canisius | 10–20 | 8–12 | T–8th | |||||
| Canisius College: | 94–112 (.456) | 65–63 (.508) | |||||||
| Total: | 292–340 (.462) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
[7]
* Hired as interim coach after Tim Cohane resigned after 5 games
References
- "Phillip Reginald Witherspoon". FIBA. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
- Gaughan, Mark (May 28, 2016). "Reggie Witherspoon returns home to become Canisius basketball coach". Buffalo News. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- "University of Buffalo fires coach". Daily Journal. March 16, 2013. p. 17. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Reggie Witherspoon Bio - ROLLTIDE.COM - University of Alabama Official Athletic Site". www.rolltide.com. Archived from the original on 2014-05-05.
- "McCall Announces 2015-16 Staff". GoMocs.com. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. July 2, 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
- "Canisius Hires Witherspoon". Ubbullrun.com. 28 May 2016.
- University at Buffalo Basketball - 2010-11 Information Guide