Jim Christian

Jim Christian (born February 6, 1965) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach for the Ohio University Bobcats men's basketball team. Christian and his wife, Patty (an Ohio University Alum), were married in the summer of 2005, and have three children, MacKenzie, Zach and Jay.

Playing career

Native of Bethpage, New York, Christian was an all-state guard at St. Dominic High School while playing under Ralph Willard, who later was the head coach at Western Kentucky, Pitt, and Holy Cross. Following his prep career, Christian was recruited by current Louisville head men's basketball coach Rick Pitino at Boston University where he played two seasons before transferring to the University of Rhode Island.

Christian played his final two campaigns under Tom Penders at the University of Rhode Island, where he helped the Rams reach the Sweet Sixteen of the 1988 NCAA Tournament. The former standout guard guided the Rams to victories over Missouri and Syracuse before dropping a 73–72 decision to Duke for the right to advance to the Elite Eight in the March Madness series.

After earning his bachelor's degree in consumer affairs from the University of Rhode Island in 1988, Christian spent one season playing professionally in the Australian Basketball Association for the Sydney City Comets.

Coaching career

After returning to the United States, Christian became the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers' assistant coach under head coach Ralph Willard from 1990 to 1992. From there, Christian went on to assist head coaches Tom McConnell at Saint Francis University (1992–1994), Matt Kilcullen again at Western Kentucky University (1994–1995), Herb Sendek at Miami University (1995–1996), Ralph Willard at University of Pittsburgh (1996–1999), and Stan Heath at Kent State University (2001–2002).

Kent State University

After assisting former head coach Stan Heath in the 2001–2002 season, Christian became head coach at Kent State University from 2002 to 2008, where he led the Golden Flashes to six consecutive seasons of twenty or more wins, four MAC East division titles, two overall MAC titles, and two conference tournament championships. His teams also had five post-season appearances, three in the NIT and two in the NCAA Tournament. His record at Kent State was 137–59.^[1]

Texas Christian University

At Texas Christian University, Christian took over the position vacated by Neil Dougherty in March 2008. In Christian's final year coaching the Horned Frogs, he helped the program break a seven-year losing streak and gave them a bid in the College Basketball Invitational Tournament. The squad posted an 18–15 overall record, four more wins than in any season since 2004–05, and ended with its best finish ever in the Mountain West Conference at fifth place.^[2]

Ohio University

On Tuesday, April 3, 2012, Christian was named the new head basketball coach in Athens, becoming Ohio's 17th head coach, after former head coach John Groce left for University of Illinois.

In Christian's first year, he and the Ohio Bobcats shared the MAC regular season title with Akron with a conference record of 14–2, Ohio's first regular season title since 1993–1994.^[3] Ohio earned themselves a No. 2 seed in the MAC tournament, where they beat Western Michigan 74–63. The following evening, Ohio lost to Akron 46–65 in the MAC Championships, losing a bid to the NCAA tournament.^[4] However, Ohio earned an at-large bid in the 2013 NIT tournament as a number 6 seed in the Alabama quadrant.^[5]

Head coaching record

References