Tommy Amaker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Harold Tommy Amaker | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Title | Head coach | |
| College | Harvard | |
| Sport | Basketball | |
| Team record | 8-18 | |
| Born | June 6, 1965 | |
| Place of birth | Falls Church, Virginia, U.S. | |
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 176-139 (.559) | |
| Championships | ||
| NIT Championship (2004) | ||
| Playing career | ||
| 1983–1987 | Duke | |
| Position | Point guard | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1988–1997 1997–2001 2001–2007 2007–present |
Duke (asst.) Seton Hall Michigan Harvard |
|
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competitor for  United States |
|||
| World Championships | |||
| Gold | 1986 Spain | USA | |
Harold Tommy Amaker (born June 6, 1965 in Falls Church, Virginia) is the current head coach of the Harvard University men's basketball team. He has also served as head basketball coach at the University of Michigan men's basketball team and Seton Hall University. He played point guard and later served as an assistant coach at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Tommy Amaker grew up in Fairfax, VA. He went to Wilbert Tucker Woodson High School, and was the star on the basketball team. He was the first freshman to make varsity in WT Woodson, and he even was the starting guard freshman year.
[edit] Playing career
Amaker was a star point guard at Duke, playing for Krzyzewski. As a junior in 1986, he was part of a team that finished as national runner-up in the NCAA Tournament. That year he recorded 81 steals. In his senior season, he was named the first winner of the Henry Iba Corinthian Award, given to the national defensive player of the year.[2] Amaker also won a gold medal as a member of the US national team in the 1986 FIBA World Championship.[3]
[edit] Coaching career
In 1988, after graduating, Amaker took a position on Krzyzewski's staff as a graduate assistant at Duke. He would then serve as an assistant coach from 1989-97 during which time Duke won 2 NCAA Championships.[2]
In 1997, Amaker took the head coaching position at Seton Hall. As a head coach, Amaker took Seton Hall to the NCAA tournament once (2000) - when his team reached the "Sweet Sixteen" (third round) - and to the National Invitation Tournament three times (1998, 1999 and 2001).
While at Seton Hall, Amaker recruited the #2 recruiting class in the Nation in 2000, according to ESPN [1]. The class consisted of Eddie Griffin, (ranked by some as the top high school player in the nation [2], Andre Barrett, and Marcus Toney-El. The Pirates were ranked high on many experts pre-season rankings [3]. The following season, Amaker resigned as the Seton Hall head coach and took the vacant Michigan head coaching job. Amaker is reported to have told the team in the locker room after already having told the press.[citation needed] Many fans of Seton Hall believe the program has not been able to fully recover since losing an entire class and the prestige of having several nationally ranked players.[citation needed]
At Michigan, his 2004 team won the NIT title, and his 2006 team was the NIT runner-up. Amaker had been credited for helping to restore the ethical reputation of a Michigan program which had been tarnished by scandal[4]. However, he had been unable to take the Wolverines to the NCAA tournament, which had caused him to draw criticism. Some fans and sportswriters argued that Amaker's teams tended to underachieve and fall apart in pressure situations, particularly at the end of the season.[5] On March 17, 2007, Amaker was fired by the University of Michigan.[6] Amaker will receive $900,000 to buy out the remaining years on his contract.
On April 11, 2007, Amaker was named head men's basketball coach at Harvard University. [4] Amaker's Harvard team beat his former team, Michigan, in just his eighth game as coach at Harvard. [5] Allegations of recruiting aberrations have arisen during his tenure at Harvard.[6]
Amaker is known for his trademark mock turtle-neck shirts each of which have his initials monogrammed into the collar.
[edit] Head Coaching Record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seton Hall (Big East Conference) (1997 — 2001) | |||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Seton Hall | 15-15 | 9-9 | 3rd (Seven) | NIT 1st Round | ||||
| 1998–1999 | Seton Hall | 15-15 | 8-10 | T-8th | NIT 1st Round | ||||
| 1999–2000 | Seton Hall | 22-10 | 10-6 | T-4th | NCAA Sweet 16 | ||||
| 2000–2001 | Seton Hall | 16-15 | 5-11 | 6th (West) | NIT 1st Round | ||||
| Seton Hall: | 68-55 | 32-36 | |||||||
| Michigan (Big Ten Conference) (2001 — 2007) | |||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Michigan | 11-18 | 5-11 | T-8th | |||||
| 2002–2003 | Michigan | 17-13 | 10-6 | T-3rd | |||||
| 2003–2004 | Michigan | 23-11 | 8-8 | T-5th | NIT Champions | ||||
| 2004–2005 | Michigan | 13-18 | 4-12 | 9th | |||||
| 2005–2006 | Michigan | 22-11 | 8-8 | T-6th | NIT Runner-Up | ||||
| 2006–2007 | Michigan | 22-13 | 8-8 | T-7th | NIT 2nd Round | ||||
| Michigan: | 108-84 | 43-53 | |||||||
| Harvard (Ivy League) (2007 — present) | |||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Harvard | 8-18 | 3-7 | ||||||
| Harvard: | 8-18 | 3-7 | |||||||
| Total: | 184-157 | ||||||||
|
National Champion Conference Champion Conference Tournament Champion |
|||||||||
