Brian Francis Gregory (born December 15, 1966) 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 who was most recently the head men's basketball coach at
South Florida. He was previously serving as a consultant to
Tom Izzo
Tom Izzo (, ); born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Izzo has led the Spart ...
at
Michigan State
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
after being let go as head coach with
Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
. Prior to coaching at Georgia Tech, he was the head coach at
Dayton
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
and an assistant coach under Izzo at Michigan State.
Early life and education
From 1985 to 1986, Gregory attended the
U.S. Naval Academy where he played on the Navy team that featured
David Robinson
David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...
and advanced to the
Elite Eight
In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...
of the
NCAA tournament. He then went to
Oakland University where he was a three-time all conference selection and in 1990 was named an Academic All-American. In 1990, Gregory graduated from
Oakland University with a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in athletic administration at
Michigan State
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
, graduating in 1992.
Coach
Michigan State
Gregory was an assistant at
Michigan State
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
for five years, from 1999 to 2003, under head coach
Tom Izzo
Tom Izzo (, ); born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Izzo has led the Spart ...
. During that time, the Spartans reached the
Final Four three times and won the
2000 national title.
Dayton
On April 9, 2003, Gregory was named the head basketball coach of the
Dayton Flyers
The Dayton Flyers are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Dayton of Dayton, Ohio. All Flyers intercollegiate sports teams participate at the NCAA Division I level. The football team competes in the Division I FCS non-schola ...
. As Flyers head coach, he led the team to the
2004 and the
2009 NCAA tournament
The 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament in which 65 schools competed to determine the national champion of the men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2008–09 basketball ...
as well as the
2008 National Invitation Tournament
The 2008 National Invitation Tournament (known through sponsorship as the MasterCard NIT) was a single-elimination tournament of 32 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not participate in the 2008 NCAA Divis ...
. On January 14, 2008, Gregory led the Dayton Flyers to a top-14 ranking in the
AP poll. This was the highest ranking for Dayton in 40 years.
He capped off the
2009–10 season by leading the Flyers to the
2010 NIT championship over
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
. Gregory had a 172–94 record with the Flyers over eight seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances.
Georgia Tech
On March 28, 2011, it was announced that Gregory would become the 13th head coach at
Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
replacing
Paul Hewitt
Paul Harrington Hewitt (born May 4, 1963) is an American college basketball coach and the former head coach at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and George Mason University. He grew up in Westbury, New York. In 2021, he was named ...
.
Gregory struggled at Georgia Tech, only finishing above .500 two times.
He failed to make a postseason appearance in his first four years at Georgia Tech. On March 16, 2015, Georgia Tech announced that Gregory would continue as head basketball coach for another year, despite the fact he never had a conference finish higher than ninth. In the
2015–16 season, Georgia Tech improved, finishing the season 21–15 and did receive a bid to the
National Invitation Tournament, their first postseason trip under Gregory. The Yellow Jackets won two games before losing in the quarterfinals.
After a 5th consecutive losing record in the ACC, Georgia Tech Athletic Director
Mike Bobinski
Michael Bobinski (born October 28, 1957) is the current Director of Athletics at Purdue University. Bobinski was named as the new athletic director for Purdue on August 9, 2016. Prior to that, Bobinski was the athletic director at Georgia Tech, ...
announced on March 25, 2016, that Gregory would not return for the 2016–17 season. His record was 76–86 overall and 27–61 in ACC play.
Gregory would serve as a consultant to his old head coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State during the 2016–17 season.
South Florida
On March 14, 2017, Gregory was hired as head coach at South Florida to replace
Orlando Antigua.
USF went 10–22 in Gregory's first season, which was the first time the program posted ten wins since the 2014–15 season – the first of the Antigua era. It posted a 7–11 record at the
Yuengling Center
Yuengling Center (formerly the USF Sun Dome) is an indoor arena on the main campus of the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. Construction began in November 1977, and it opened on November 29, 1980. It is located in USF's Athl ...
(formerly the USF Sun Dome), but struggled away from home, collecting just three wins away from Tampa. The Bulls finished 3–15 in AAC play, last in the conference and was a first-round exit in the 2018 conference tournament.
Gregory welcomed nine new players to the program for the 2018–19 season. USF also was benefitted by
Gardner–Webb transfer Laquincy Rideau, who came off a redshirt season in 2017–18 and
Alexis Yetna's addition to the hardwood. It started the season 10–2 through non-conference play before going 8–10 in AAC play. Under Gregory's eye, Rideau earned an AAC Defensive Player of the Year honor, while Yetna was named the league's Freshman of the Year for their efforts during the regular season.
Although it was bounced in the first round of the conference tournament yet again, this time by
UConn
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from ...
, USF received a bid to play in the
College Basketball Invitational
The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...
, the third tier postseason college basketball tournament.
The Bulls came back from a 25-point deficit to defeat
Stony Brook in the first round before defeating
Utah Valley
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
and
Loyola Marymount to reach the CBI finals.
In a three-game series against
DePaul, the Bulls took two-of-three (63–61, 96–100 OT, 77–65) to win the tournament. Sophomore guard David Collins was named as the tournament's MVP. In the process, USF finished 24–14 and had the largest improvement among
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...
teams.
Three Bulls – Rideau, Collins and Yetna – were named preseason all-conference selections before the 2019–20 season. Yetna, who had battled a leg injury and rehabbed over the previous summer, suffered a devastating knee injury in practice prior to the team's season opening game against
Arkansas-Pine Bluff and was ruled out for the season. Former
LSU
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
transfer
Mayan Kiir left the team as well, turning the Bulls into one of the largest teams in the AAC to one of the smallest teams in the conference. As a result, the Bulls struggled offensively and failed to reach 70 points in 24 in 31 of their games. However, USF was extremely strong on the defensive side of the court, ranking 20th in the NCAA in scoring defense (62.7 PPG), while holding 27 of its 31 opponents under their season scoring average at the time of play.
USF failed to put together a second straight winning season under Gregory, going 14–17 and 7–11 in AAC play. The Bulls were slated to play
War on I-4 rival
UCF in the first round of the conference tournament before the conference announced the cancelation of the game due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, just 65 minutes before tipoff between the Bulls and Knights.
Over the extended break caused by the coronavirus, the Bulls added length and saw the return of Yetna to the starting rotation. Former
Mississippi State
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...
PF Prince Oduro and
Texas Tech
Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
C Russel Tchewa joined the squad and the Bulls brought in consensus four-star combo guard Caleb Murphy to bolster a team that just lost two seniors and one outgoing transfer. USF was picked to finish 5th in the AAC in the 2020–21 season.
Gregory won his 300th career game as a head coach on December 12, 2020, against Wofford.
It was announced on January 4, 2022, that Gregory's contract would be extended until the 2025–26 season, as a part of 14 overall head coach extensions executed by USF Vice President of Athletics Michael Kelly.
On March 10, 2023 Gregory was relieved of his duties as South Florida Head Coach.
Head coaching record
References
External links
South Florida profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Brian
1966 births
Living people
American men's basketball coaches
Basketball coaches from Illinois
Basketball players from Illinois
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Dayton Flyers men's basketball coaches
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball coaches
Michigan State Spartans men's basketball coaches
Navy Midshipmen men's basketball players
Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball coaches
Oakland Golden Grizzlies men's basketball players
People from Mount Prospect, Illinois
South Florida Bulls men's basketball coaches
Toledo Rockets men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
Point guards
Military personnel from Illinois