William Joseph Kennedy Jr. (born February 2, 1964) is an American basketball coach who is an assistant coach for

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

men's basketball team. Previously, Kennedy was the head coach of the

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

men's basketball team. He took over the position vacated by

Mark Turgeon Mark Leo Turgeon (born February 5, 1965) is an American college basketball coach. Turgeon served as the head men's basketball coach at Jacksonville State University from 1998 to 2000, Wichita State University from 2000 to 2007, Texas A&M Univ ...

in May 2011. Prior to this, he held the same position at Murray State University for five seasons. Kennedy previously held the same position at Centenary and Southeastern Louisiana. He has served 13 seasons as a collegiate head coach and 13 as an assistant. Kennedy is a 1986 graduate of Southeastern Louisiana and 1984 graduate of Delgado Community College in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. He played basketball and attended Holy Cross High School in New Orleans.

Coaching career

Centenary

After serving 12 years as an assistant coach, including the previous four at

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Kennedy's first collegiate head coaching job came at Centenary. There, he took over a program that had won only 30 games in the previous three seasons. His first team won 10 games but his second improved to a 14-14 overall record and a 9-7 Trans America Athletic Conference mark, its best finish in five years.

Southeastern Louisiana

Southeastern Louisiana hired Kennedy in 1999 and he steadily improved his alma mater, winning 10 games in his first season and doubling that total four seasons later, winning the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

regular-season championship. His sixth team went 24-9, the most wins in school history, and won both the conference regular-season and tournament titles. The Lions advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, where it lost to

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

63-50. The Louisiana Sports Writers Association, the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches, and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (District 8) selected Kennedy coach of the year in 2004 end 2005. Kennedy resigned from his position at Southeastern Louisiana to become the associate head coach at Miami.

Murray State

After serving one season as an assistant at Miami, Kennedy was named Murray State's 14th men's basketball coach in 2006, taking over after Mick Cronin departed for Cincinnati. Taking over a team with only one returning starter, he led the Racers to a 16-14 season and second-place finish in the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Cham ...

. His next two squads won 18 and 19 games, again placing second in the conference regular-season standings, and advanced as far as the OVC tournament semifinals. His fourth team at Murray State won more games than any in school history, reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament. The 13th-seeded Racers beat fourth-seed

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

66-65 in the first round in the West Regional at

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

–only the third NCAA Tournament win in school history. They then lost a close second-round contest against fifth-seeded

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

in the 54-52. During the season, the Racers won a school record 17 games in a row before losing 70-65 at

Morehead State University Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ...

on February 25, 2010. The Racers finished the season with a 31-5 record, including a 17-1 conference mark, and avenged their lone league loss with a 62-51 win over Morehead State in the OVC tournament championship game. Kennedy was named 2010 OVC and National Association of Basketball Coaches (District 19) coach of the year. In 2010-11, Kennedy's Racers repeated as OVC regular-season champions but fell in the conference tournament semifinals. As OVC regular-season champions, Murray State earned a berth in the National Invitation Tournament where it lost 89-76 at Missouri State to finish with a 23-9 season record. Kennedy was again selected OVC coach of the year.

Texas A&M

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

hired Kennedy in May 2011. Kennedy previously coached at A&M from 1990-91. Kennedy stated at the press conference that A&M is his destination job and he plans to retire there. He was given the honors of SEC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year in 2016. On October 27, 2011, it was announced that Kennedy had been diagnosed with early-stage

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

and would be leaving the team to undergo treatment. Kennedy said he planned to return following treatment and temporarily put Associate Coach Glynn Cyprien in charge of the team. On November 13, 2011, in A&M's second game of the regular season, Kennedy returned to the bench for the Aggies' game against Southern. Kennedy led A&M to its first conference title in 30 years when he shared the SEC crown with Kentucky in 2015-16. The Aggies also made the

SEC tournament The Southeastern Conference (SEC) sponsors nine men's sports and twelve women's sports. This is a list of conference champions for each sport. Also see the list of SEC national champions. Members The SEC was established on December 1932, when t ...

final before losing to Kentucky in overtime. For his efforts, Kennedy was given a new 5-year contract. Coach Kennedy's squad that year also orchestrated the largest final-minute come-from-behind victory in college basketball history by overcoming a 12 point deficit in the final 34 seconds of the Second Round of the 2016 NCAA tournament. A&M would tie up the game before finally defeating Northern Iowa in double overtime in order to advance to the Sweet 16 against the University of Oklahoma. Kennedy led A&M to a number five ranking early in the 2017-2018 season and the team finished with 20 regular season wins. The team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament to play defending National champion North Carolina, ultimately beating North Carolina by 21 points to advance to the Sweet 16 and a game against Michigan. After a disappointing 2018-19 season, losing four of five starters from the previous season also riddled with injuries and only seven scholarship players, he was fired at the conclusion of the season with two years remaining on his contract.

Wichita State

After

Gregg Marshall Michael Gregg Marshall (born February 27, 1963) is an American college basketball coach whose most recent position was head coach at Wichita State University. Marshall has coached his teams to appearances in the NCAA Division I men's basketball ...

's resignation from Wichita State, Kennedy was hired as an assistant for the 2020-21 season by the interim head coach Isaac Brown. While at Wichita State, Kennedy and his wife were recipients of the

Coach Wooden "Keys to Life" Award The Coach Wooden "Keys to Life" Award is presented annually to a member of the college or professional basketball community who lives out qualities exemplified by Coach Wooden: outstanding character, integrity, and leadership on the court, in the ...

in 2021.

Head coaching record

References

External links