Blaine Taylor (born January 14, 1958) is a former 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 most well known for being the head coach of the

Old Dominion Monarchs The Old Dominion Monarchs are composed of 18 intercollegiate athletic teams representing Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, Virginia. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, sailing, soccer, swimming, and tennis. Wo ...

men's

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team from 2001 until 2013. Taylor played as a

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for the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

from 1979 to 1981. In 1981, he was recognized as the school's most outstanding male athlete and earned the Naseby Rhinehart Award as the Most Inspirational Player. Taylor later became an

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultima ...

at Montana while a graduate student from 1981 to 1984 and again became an assistant to Stew Morrill from 1986 to 1991. He was promoted to head coach of the Grizzlies in 1991 and led the team to two NCAA tournament appearances through 1998. Taylor became an assistant coach under former Grizzly coach

Mike Montgomery Michael John Montgomery (born February 27, 1947) is a retired American basketball coach. He is best known for his 18-year tenure at Stanford (1986–2004), where he led the program to 12 NCAA Tournaments, including a Final Four appearance in 199 ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

from 1998 to 2001. The

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were invited to the NCAA tournament during every year of Taylor's tenure, reaching the Elite Eight in the 2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. During his tenure at

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

, Taylor has led the Monarchs to

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Tournament championships in

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, and

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and appearances in the NCAA tournament in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, and

. The Monarchs lost in their first NCAA tournament game on three of Taylor's trips, but broke through with a first round victory over Notre Dame in 2010 before losing to Baylor in the second round. Taylor also led the Monarchs to the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

NIT semifinals, where the team lost to the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

. The Monarchs also won the inaugural

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) was an American men's college basketball postseason tournament founded by Collegeinsider.com. The tournament was oriented toward schools that did not get selected for the NCAA Division I men's ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. On February 5, 2013, Taylor was fired by Old Dominion in the middle of a 2-20 season. In the summer of 2016, it was announced that Taylor was hired by

Russell Turner Russell William Turner (born 12 May 1941), an Australian politician, is a councillor of the City of Orange Council, since 2012. Turner was previously a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Orange between 1996 and 20 ...

, head coach of

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** '' University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the ti ...

as an assistant. The two had both worked as assistants at Stanford. After stepping down from UC Irvine to have ankle and knee replacement surgery, Taylor returned to Old Dominion to work as fundraiser for the university's athletic foundation.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Old Dominion profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Blaine 1958 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players College basketball announcers in the United States College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States Montana Grizzlies basketball coaches Montana Grizzlies basketball players Old Dominion Monarchs men's basketball coaches Place of birth missing (living people) Point guards Stanford Cardinal men's basketball coaches UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball coaches