Reggie Witherspoon (basketball)

American basketball coach (born 1961)

Reggie Witherspoon

Witherspoon at Alumni Arena in 2006

Biographical details
Born|  (1961-02-21) February 21, 1961 (age 64)
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Alma mater| Empire State College ('95)
Playing career
| Erie CC
| Wheeling Jesuit
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1984–1992| Sweet Home HS (assistant)
1992–1997| Sweet Home HS
1997–1999| Erie CC
1999–2013| Buffalo
2014–2015| Alabama (assistant)
2015–2016| Chattanooga (assistant)
2016–2024| Canisius
Head coaching record
Overall| 306–358 (.461) 43–15 (.741) (NJCAA)
Tournaments| 1–1 (NIT)
0–2 (CBI)
3–3 (CIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships

* MAC regular season champion (2009)
* MAAC regular season champion (2018)

Awards

* MAC Coach of the Year (2004)

Phillip Reginald Witherspoon (born February 21, 1961)[1] is an American college basketball coach who is the former men's basketball head coach of the Canisius Golden Griffins and the Buffalo Bulls.

Witherspoon played college basketball at Erie Community College under John Beilein and then at Wheeling Jesuit under Jim O'Brien.[2]

He was the head coach at Erie Community College, and head coach and assistant coach at Sweet Home High School before he was hired as the interim head coach at Buffalo in December 1999. Witherspoon was named full-time head coach on March 10, 2000. He was the first African American named head coach of a varsity sports team in any Western New York suburban school district. He was fired after the 2012–13 season, finishing his 14 season run with a 198–228 record.[3] Witherspoon served one season as an assistant at Alabama under head coach Anthony Grant.[4] In 2015, Witherspoon was let go by Alabama when Grant was replaced by Avery Johnson. He was subsequently named as an assistant on Matt McCall's staff at UT-Chattanooga.[5]

In May 2016, Witherspoon was hired to replace the retiring Jim Baron at Canisius College.[6] In the 2017–18 season, the Golden Griffins finished tied for a share of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season title and qualified for the 2018 College Basketball Invitational.

On March 16, 2024, Canisius announced that it had parted ways with Witherspoon after eight seasons.[7]

## Head coaching record

[edit]

Statistics overview  Season  | Team  | Overall  | Conference  | Standing  | Postseason

|
|
|
|
|

Erie Community College (NJCAA Region III) (1997–1999)
1997–98  | Erie CC  | 19–10 |  |  |
1998–99  | Erie CC  | 24–5 |  |  |
Erie CC: | 43–15 (.741) |  |
University at Buffalo (Mid-American Conference) (1999–2013)
1999–00*  | Buffalo  | 3–20 (5–23) | 1–17 | 12th |
2000–01 | Buffalo  | 4–24 | 2–16 | 12th |
2001–02 | Buffalo  | 12–18 | 7–11 | 10th |
2002–03 | Buffalo  | 5–23 | 2–16 | 13th |
2003–04 | Buffalo  | 17–12 | 11–7 | 5th |
2004–05 | Buffalo | 23–10 | 11–7 | T–2nd | NIT First Round
2005–06 | Buffalo  | 19–13 | 8–10 | 8th |
2006–07 | Buffalo  | 12–19 | 4–12 | T–10th |
2007–08 | Buffalo | 10–20 | 3–13 | 12th |
2008–09 | Buffalo | 21–12 | 11–5 | T–1st | CBI First Round
2009–10 | Buffalo | 18–12 | 9–7 | T–3rd |
2010–11 | Buffalo | 20–14 | 8–8 | T–5th | CIT Quarterfinals
2011–12 | Buffalo | 20–11 | 12–4 | 2nd | CIT Second Round
2012–13 | Buffalo | 14–20 | 7–9 | 8th |
Buffalo: | 198–228 (.465) | 96–142 (.403) |
Canisius College (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) (2016–2024)
2016–17 | Canisius | 18–16 | 10–10 | T–6th | CIT First Round
2017–18 | Canisius | 21–12 | 15–3 | T–1st | CBI First Round
2018–19 | Canisius | 15–17 | 11–7 | T–2nd |
2019–20 | Canisius | 12–20 | 7–13 | 10th |
2020–21 | Canisius | 7–6 | 7–5 | 4th |
2021–22 | Canisius | 11–21 | 7–13 | T–10th |
2022–23 | Canisius | 10–20 | 8–12 | T–8th |
2023–24 | Canisius | 14–18 | 8–12 | 9th |
Canisius College: | 108–130 (.454) | 73–75 (.493) |
Total: | 306–358 (.461) |

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

[8]
* Hired as interim coach after Tim Cohane resigned after 5 games

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Phillip Reginald Witherspoon". FIBA. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
2. ^ Gaughan, Mark (May 28, 2016). "Reggie Witherspoon returns home to become Canisius basketball coach". Buffalo News. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
3. ^ "University of Buffalo fires coach". Daily Journal. March 16, 2013. p. 17. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
4. ^ "Reggie Witherspoon Bio – ROLLTIDE.COM – University of Alabama Official Athletic Site". www.rolltide.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2014.
5. ^ "McCall Announces 2015–16 Staff". GoMocs.com. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. July 2, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
6. ^ "Canisius Hires Witherspoon". Ubbullrun.com. May 28, 2016.
7. ^ "Canisius Announces Men's Basketball Leadership Change". gogriffs.com. March 16, 2024.
8. ^ University at Buffalo Basketball – 2010–11 Information Guide

## External links

[edit]

* Chattanooga Mocs bio
* Canisius Golden Griffins bio

* v
* t
* e

Buffalo Bulls men's basketball head coaches

* Art Powell (1915–1943)
* No team (1943–1945)
* Robert Harrington (1945–1946)
* Malcolm Eiken (1946–1956)
* Len Serfustini (1956–1970)
* Edwin Muto (1970–1973)
* Leo Richardson (1973–1978)
* V. William Hughes (1978–1982)
* Kenneth Pope (1982–1983)
* Daniel Bazzani (1983–1993)
* Tim Cohane (1993–2000)
* Reggie Witherspoon (2000–2013)
* Bobby Hurley (2013–2015)
* Nate Oats (2015–2019)
* Jim Whitesell (2019–2023)
* George Halcovage (2023– )

* v
* t
* e

Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball head coaches

* J. P. Quinlisk (1903–1905)
* John Schmitt (1905–1906)
* J. P. Quinlisk (1906–1907)
* John Mahoney (1907–1909)
* Charles McCabe (1909–1911)
* No record (1911–1912)
* Charles McCabe (1912–1913)
* No record (1913–1914)
* Charles McCabe (1914–1915)
* No record (1915–1916)
* Raymond McDonald (1916–1918)
* No record (1918–1919)
* Edward C. Miller (1919–1920)
* Mike Sweeney (1920–1921)
* Luke Urban (1921–1924)
* Russell Burt (1924–1925)
* Luke Urban (1925–1931)
* Russell Burt (1931–1933)
* Allie Seelbach (1933–1944)
* Art Powell (1944–1946)
* Earl Brown (1946–1948)
* Joseph Niland (1948–1953)
* Joseph Curran (1953–1959)
* Bob MacKinnon (1959–1972)
* John Morrison (1972–1974)
* Johnny McCarthy (1974–1977)
* Nick Macarchuk (1977–1987)
* Marty Marbach (1987–1992)
* John Beilein (1992–1997)
* Mike MacDonald (1997–2006)
* Tom Parrotta (2006–2012)
* Jim Baron (2012–2016)
* Reggie Witherspoon (2016–2024)
* Jim Christian (2024– )

* v
* t
* e

Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year

* 1970: Snyder
* 1971: Hedric
* 1972: Snyder
* 1973: Hedric
* 1974: Nichols
* 1975: Parfitt
* 1976: Miller
* 1977: McDougal
* 1978: Weinert
* 1979: Nichols
* 1980: Nichols
* 1981: Yoder
* 1982: Yoder
* 1983: Nee
* 1984: Hedric
* 1985: Nee
* 1986: Peirson
* 1987: Coles
* 1988: Braun
* 1989: Majerus
* 1990: McDonald
* 1991: Braun
* 1992: Donewald
* 1993: Wright
* 1994: Hunter
* 1995: Sendek
* 1996: Braun
* 1997: Larranaga
* 1998: Hipsher
* 1999: Waters
* 2000: Waters
* 2001: Smith
* 2002: Heath
* 2003: Smith
* 2004: Witherspoon
* 2005: Coles
* 2006: Christian
* 2007: Joplin
* 2008: Christian
* 2009: Orr
* 2010: Ford
* 2011: Ford
* 2012: Murphy
* 2013: Dambrot
* 2014: Hawkins
* 2015: Davis
* 2016: Dambrot
* 2017: Dambrot
* 2018: Oats
* 2019: Oats
* 2020: Groce
* 2021: Kowalczyk
* 2022: Senderoff
* 2023: Kowalczyk
* 2024: Barbee
* 2025: Groce

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