Joe Esposito (basketball)

Joseph "Joe" Esposito (born September 21, 1966) is currently an assistant basketball coach at Texas Tech University. He was the Director of Basketball Operations at the University of Minnesota. He previously was the head Coach at The Villages Charter Schools and Angelo State University and was the associate head coach at Tennessee State University and Assumption College.

Head Coaching

At The Villages Charter High School he helped advance the School to the Class 3A District 7 Final Four.

At Angelo State University, his team recorded 118 wins in eight years^[1] and left the school with the highest winning percentage of any coach in the program's history. In 2000-01, the Rams advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in 10 years and only the third time in school history. Angelo State won the Lone Star Conference South Division Championship with a 22-8 record, which tied the highest single-season win total in school history. In addition, Esposito was voted LSC South Coach of the Year in 2001.

In 2002, Esposito led the Rams to its fourth consecutive winning season, the first time ASU had posted four straight winning seasons in two decades. In just four seasons, Esposito led the Rams to three of the top five single season win totals in school history and three straight post-season berths. In 2003, ASU posted its fifth consecutive winning season, a mark only matched one other time in the history of the program. He left the program as one of the winningest coaches in Lone Star Conference history.

In his first season at Angelo State in 1999, Esposito posted the best turnaround in Division II by any rookie head coach, improving the Rams' record by seven victories and having the first winning season since 1994. In his second year, he took the Rams to the Lone Star Conference Tournament and a win over nationally ranked Midwestern State. The 2000 team posted a 19-win season, which was the second-best record in school history, surpassed only by Esposito's 2001 team that won 22 games.

Assistant coaching

In April 2013, Esposito was hired by Tubby Smith as an assistant coach at Texas Tech University in the Big 12.^[2] Esposito is reunited with Tubby Smith after six years together at Minnesota. Esposito returns to Texas where he has coached for almost a decade.

Esposito was hired at the University of Minnesota by Tubby Smith in May 2007 as Director of Basketball Operations. Under Tubby Smith, the Gophers averaged over 20 wins a season and went to 5 post season tournaments in six years (NCAA & NIT). Minnesota reached the third round against Florida in 2013. After starting 15-1 in Smith's final season at Minnesota and reaching a rank of #8, the Gophers collapsed and lost seven of their next 10 games and squeaked by with a No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament. Less than 24 hours after Minnesota's loss to Florida, Smith and his entire staff were fired. ^[3]

At Tennessee State, for three seasons (1995–98) Esposito was responsible for recruiting two Ohio Valley Conference Freshmen of the Year and both his 1996-97 and 1997-98 recruiting classes were ranked among the top 30 in the nation by Hoop Scoop.

During his tenure at Assumption, the Greyhounds won three straight conference titles, appeared twice in the NCAA Division II regionals and set records for wins and winning streaks at the school.

He also worked under Duane Davis at Theodore Roosevelt High School (New York City).

References

External links

• Minnesota profile
• Texas Tech profile