Billy Taylor (born June 12, 1973) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He is the current head coach for the

Elon Phoenix men's basketball The Elon Phoenix men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents Elon University in Elon, North Carolina, United States. The school completed an 11-season tenure in the Southern Conference in 2013–14; it moved to the Colonial Athle ...

team. Taylor previously served as the head men's basketball coach at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

from 2002 to 2007 and

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

from 2007 to 2013.

Playing career

Taylor was an honor roll student and commencement speaker at

West Aurora High School West Aurora High School, or WAHS, is a public four-year high school located in Aurora, Illinois. It is part of West Aurora Public School District 129. The school is also referred to as "West," and "West High,". History High school classes were ...

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...

. He was recruited by

Digger Phelps Richard Frederick "Digger" Phelps (born July 4, 1941) is an American former college basketball coach, most notably of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1971 to 1991. For 20 years, from 1993 to 2014, he served as an analyst on ESPN. He got the n ...

to play at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, though he played under John MacLeod.

Coaching career

After spending three years working for

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...

and earning his CPA, Taylor took an assistant coaching position under MacLeod at Notre Dame in 1998. One year later he followed former Lehigh head coach

Fran McCaffery Francis John McCaffery (born May 23, 1959) is an American college basketball coach and the current men's basketball head coach at the University of Iowa. He has taken four Division I (NCAA), Division I programs to postseason tournaments, includi ...

UNC Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-al ...

. Taylor was appointed to succeed Sal Mentesana as the 26th men's basketball head coach at

on April 16, 2002. In his inaugural campaign, he become the all-time winningest first-year coach in Lehigh history. 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. In 2003-04, Taylor led Lehigh to its first-ever Patriot League regular season and tournament championships, as well as a trip to the NCAA tournament. For his efforts, Taylor earned the league's Coach of the Year honor for the second time in as many seasons, becoming the first coach since Gonzaga's Mark Few to win conference coach of the year honors in each of his first two seasons as a head coach. In 2005-06, Lehigh posted the third-most wins in school history with its 19-12 overall mark and a school-record 11 Patriot League wins. In August 2007 Taylor was offered and took the head coaching position at

. During his six seasons at Ball State (2007–13), the Cardinals finished either first or second in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC) West Division three times and advanced to the MAC Tournament semifinals twice. Taylor coached nine all-conference selections and also mentored a MAC All-Freshman Team member five straight seasons. He was fired in March 2013. Taylor rejoined McCaffery prior to the 2013–14 season at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. Taylor was Hawkeyes staff for back-to-back NCAA Tournament teams (2013–14 and 2014–15). In 2014-15, Iowa advanced to the Round of 32 after posting its largest margin of victory ever in an NCAA Tournament game, a 31-point win over Davidson. The Hawkeyes produced back-to-back first-team All-Big Ten honorees and NBA Draft selections (

Roy Devyn Marble Roy Devyn Marble (born September 21, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Legia Warszawa of the Polish Basketball League. He played college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes. High school career Marble attended Southfield-Lathr ...

in 2014 and Aaron White in 2015) with Taylor on staff. In June 2016, Taylor was hired as the head men's basketball coach at

Belmont Abbey College Belmont Abbey College is a private, Catholic liberal arts college in Belmont, North Carolina. It was founded in 1876 by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey. The school is affiliated with the Catholic Church and the Order of Saint Benedict. I ...

Belmont, North Carolina Belmont is a small suburban city in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States, located about west of uptown Charlotte and east of Gastonia. The population was 10,076 at the 2010 census. Once known as Garibaldi Station, it was named for th ...

where he'd post a 49–42 record in three seasons. In May 2019, he rejoined McCaffery at Iowa. On April 15, Taylor was named the 19th head coach in Elon basketball history, replacing

Mike Schrage Mike Schrage (born April 2, 1976) is an American basketball coach, currently a Special Assistant to the Head Coach at Duke University. He was formerly the head coach for the Elon Phoenix men's basketball team. He has a wife (Amanda) and two child ...

Head coaching record

References

External links