Billy Taylor (basketball)

Billy Taylor
Sport(s) Basketball
Current position
Title Head coach
Team Ball State
Playing career
1991–1995 Notre Dame
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1998–1999
1999–2002
2002–2007
2007–present
Notre Dame (asst.)
UNC-Greensboro (asst.)
Lehigh
Ball State
Head coaching record
Overall 122-150
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Patriot League Tournament Championship (2004)
Patriot League Regular Season Championship (2004)
Awards
Patriot League Coach of the Year (2003, 2004)

Billy Taylor is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Ball State University. He previously held the same position at Lehigh University.

He was the valedictorian at West Aurora High School in Aurora, Illinois, and was recruited by Digger Phelps to play at Notre Dame, though he played under John MacLeod. After spending three years working for Arthur Andersen and earning his CPA, he took an assistant coaching position under MacLeod at Notre Dame in 1998. One year later he followed former Lehigh head coach Fran McCaffery to UNC-Greensboro.[1]

In 2002 he was offered the head coaching position at Lehigh, where he spearheaded an 11-game turnaround and would eventually lead Lehigh into its first NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament appearance since the Fran McCaffery era.

In his inaugural campaign, Taylor become the all-time winningest first-year coach in Lehigh history. Coach Taylor and the Mountain Hawks surprised many by winning 16 games, including eight in the Patriot League. Their eleven-game improvement over the year before was the second best in all of Division I. For his outstanding efforts, Taylor earned the 2002–03 Patriot League Coach of the Year honors in voting by the league coaches.

His 2004–05 team forfeited 14 games, because they played with an ineligible player.[2]

In August 2007 he was offered and took the head coaching position at Ball State.

Head coaching record

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Lehigh (Patriot League) (2002–2007)
2002–2003 Lehigh 16–12 8–6 4th
2003–2004 Lehigh 20–12 10–4 T–1st NCAA Opening Round
2004–2005 Lehigh 1–28 1–13 8th
2005–2006 Lehigh 19–12 11–3 T–2nd
2006–2007 Lehigh 12–19 7–7 T–3rd
Lehigh: 68–83 37–33
Ball State (Mid-American Conference) (2007–present)
2007–2008 Ball State 6–24 5–11
2008–2009 Ball State 14–17 7–9
2009–2010 Ball State 15–13 8–7
2010–2011 Ball State 19–13 10-6
2011–2012 Ball State
Ball State: 54–67
Total: 122–150

      National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion
      Conference regular season & conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

References