Greg Graham (basketball coach)

Don Gregory Graham[1] (born May 19, 1955) is an American college basketball coach. He is a former head men's basketball coach at Boise State University.

Greg Graham
Graham as Boise State head coach in 2008.
Biographical details
Born (1955-05-19) May 19, 1955 (age 68)
Louisville, Ohio, U.S.
Playing career
1973–1977Oregon
Position(s)Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1978–1979Marist Catholic HS (asst.)
1979–1982Louisville HS
1982–1983Oregon (asst.)
1983–1984New Mexico (asst.)
1984–1985Western New Mexico
1985–1989San Jose State (asst.)
1989–1992San Diego State (asst.)
1992–1997Saint Mary's (asst.)
1997–2002Oregon (asst.)
2002–2010Boise State
2011–2014Bradley (asst.)
2014–2017Washington State (asst.)
Head coaching record
Overall160–117
Tournaments0–1 (NCAA Division I)
2–1 (NIT)
0–1 (CBI)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
WAC tournament (2008)
WAC regular season (2008)
Awards
WAC Coach of the Year (2008)

Early life and college playing career edit

Graham was born in Louisville, Ohio and graduated from Louisville High School in 1973.[2][3] After high school, Graham attended the University of Oregon (UO) in Eugene and played at guard on the Oregon Ducks men's basketball team from 1973 to 1977 under Dick Harter. As a senior, Graham was team captain and was the team's leading scorer with 21.7 points per game, as well as the leading rebounder (9.8).[4] Graham graduated from the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences in 1978 with a degree in biology.[5]

Coaching career edit

High school (1978–1982) edit

Graham stayed in Eugene after graduating from UO to be assistant coach at Marist Catholic High School for one season. In 1979, Graham became varsity boys' basketball head coach at alma mater Louisville High School and enrolled in graduate school at the University of Dayton. Graham left Louisville in 1982, the year he completed a master's degree in educational administration at Dayton.[5]

Early college coaching career (1982–1984) edit

Graham returned to the University of Oregon to be assistant coach under Jim Haney for the 1982–83 season. The following season, Graham became an assistant at New Mexico under Gary Colson, in a season where New Mexico made the NIT.[5]

Western New Mexico (1984–1985) edit

Graham had his first head coaching job at Western New Mexico in the 1984–85 season. He led Western New Mexico to an 18–5 record during a season on probation by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and NAIA.[6]

Later college assistant coaching career (1985–2002) edit

From 1985 to 1989, Graham was assistant coach at San Jose State under Bill Berry. Graham then moved to San Diego State to coach under Jim Brandenburg, from 1989 to 1992.[5]

Graham then was an assistant coach at Saint Mary's from 1992 to 1997 in the first of several assistant coaching stints under Ernie Kent.[5] Graham helped Saint Mary's win the West Coast Conference regular season and qualify for the NCAA tournament by virtue of winning the WCC tournament.[7]

In 1997, Graham had his second stint as assistant coach at Oregon and second assistant coaching job under Ernie Kent. In five seasons with Graham as assistant coach, Oregon made the 1999 NIT semifinals and 2000 NCAA tournament, as well as the Pac-10 regular season championship and Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament in 2002.[5]

Boise State (2002–2010) edit

Athletic director Gene Bleymaier hired Graham to be head coach at Boise State in 2002.[8] In eight seasons, Graham had a 142–112 record at Boise State and led Boise State to a berth in the 2004 NIT, 2008 NCAA tournament and 2009 CBI.[9] For leading Boise State to the NCAA Tournament, the Western Athletic Conference named Graham "Coach of the Year" in 2008.[5]

In 2010, after a 15–17 season, Bleymaier fired Graham and stated: "We appreciate everything that Coach Graham and his staff have contributed to Boise State the past eight years. We felt that in the best interest of the program we needed to make a change."[10]

Assistant coaching after Boise State (2011–2017) edit

In 2011, Graham became an assistant coach again, this time at Bradley under Geno Ford.[2]

After three seasons at Bradley, Graham became an assistant coach at Washington State in 2014, for his third coaching stint under Ernie Kent.[5] He was let go following the 2017 season.[11]

Head coaching record edit

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Western New Mexico Mustangs (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) (1984–1985)
1984–85 Western New Mexico 18–5 0–0* Ineligible*
Western New Mexico: 18–5 0–0
Boise State Broncos (Western Athletic Conference) (2002–2010)
2002–03 Boise State 13–16 7–11 8th
2003–04 Boise State 23–10 12–6 T–3rd NIT second round
2004–05 Boise State 16–18 6–12 8th
2005–06 Boise State 14–15 6–10 7th
2006–07 Boise State 17–14 8–8 T–5th
2007–08 Boise State 25–9 12–4 T–1st NCAA Division I Round of 64
2008–09 Boise State 19–13 9–7 T–3rd CBI first round
2009–10 Boise State 15–17 5–11 8th
Boise State: 142–112 65–69
Total: 160–117

      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

*Due to probation from the conference, Western New Mexico had an official 0–0 conference record.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ January 2, 2007 memorandum to Idaho legislators from the State Controller's Office, p. 26.
  2. ^ a b Reynolds, Dave (June 14, 2011). "BU Men's basketball: Coaching staff now complete". Peoria Journal Star. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  3. ^ "LHS Athletic Hall of Fame Inaugural Class of 2004". Leopard Nation. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-04-04. Retrieved 2015-05-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Greg Graham". Washington State Cougars. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  6. ^ "Boragno Takes Western New Mexico Job". LA Times. Associated Press. September 22, 1985. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  7. ^ "1996-97 Saint Mary's (CA) Gaels Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  8. ^ "Boise State Names Greg Graham Men's Basketball Coach". Western Athletic Conference. March 27, 2002. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  9. ^ "Greg Graham Coaching Record | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  10. ^ "Greg Graham Relieved of his Duties as Head Basketball Coach". Boise State Broncos. March 12, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  11. ^ "Ernie Kent shakes up coaching staff". 27 March 2017.
  12. ^ RMAC Men's Basketball Standings, p. 5.

External links edit