Frederick Douglas Wojcik (pronounced WO-jick) (born April 12, 1964) is an American college

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach, former player, and former Naval officer. Currently, he is an assistant coach for

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 University. An

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 ...

head coach for nine years, Wojcik has averaged 20 wins per season while compiling an overall record of 178–121 (.595), and an overall conference record of 88–58 (.602). He is the winningest coach in the history of the University of Tulsa. He is a native of

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

Career

Early career

In high school, Wojcik played at

Wheeling Central Catholic High School Central Catholic High School is a parochial, Roman Catholic high school in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Central Catholic High School has been educating young men and women since 1865 ...

under

Skip Prosser George Edward "Skip" Prosser (November 3, 1950 – July 26, 2007) was an American college basketball coach who was head men's basketball coach at Wake Forest University at the time of his death. He was the only coach in NCAA history to take three s ...

, who went on to coach at

Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in th ...

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

and

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

. Prosser and Wojcik led Wheeling Central Catholic to its first West Virginia SSAC "AA" State Championship in 1982. Wojcik graduated from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

in 1987 and served in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

until 1992. While at Navy, Wojcik had a very successful playing career as a three-year starter at point guard for the Midshipmen alongside

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

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 ...

, amassing several team records for assists. He also received th
Coaches' Calvert Award
presented by th
Naval Academy Athletic Association
Once Wojcik completed his military service, he returned to Annapolis as an assistant coach, helping Navy to three Patriot League titles and three NCAA tournament berths—in 1994, 1997, and 1998. Wojcik continued his coaching career at Notre Dame,

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 ...

(2001 Regular-season Champions) and

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 ...

(2005 Final Four) until he was hired for his first head coaching job by Tulsa. He was considered one of the top assistants in the country, being named a "Head Coach in the Waiting" by

Athlon Sports Parade Media (previously known as AMG/Parade and Athlon Media Group) is a publisher founded in 1967 that is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville's Spencer Hays was its majority stockholder. It was purchased by The Arena Group in 2022 and now ...

in 2001 and by ESPN's Jay Bilas in 2003. Wojcik was also recognized as "Assistant Coach on the Rise" by Andy Katz of ESPN.com.

University of Tulsa

From 2005 to 2012, Wojcik led the University of Tulsa men's basketball program and became the all-time winningest head coach in program history with 140 career wins. In the 2005–06 season, his first year as head coach, Wojcik posted an 11–17 record with the Golden Hurricane,Tulsa Golden Hurricane Basketball 2005–06 Schedule – Golden Hurricane Home and Away – ESPN
/ref> an improvement over two consecutive 9-win seasons in 2003–04Tulsa Golden Hurricane Basketball 2003–04 Schedule – Golden Hurricane Home and Away – ESPN
/ref> and 2004–05.Tulsa Golden Hurricane Basketball 2004–05 Schedule – Golden Hurricane Home and Away – ESPN
/ref> His second season saw more improvement, with a final 20–11 overall record and a 9–7 Conference USA record,Tulsa Golden Hurricane Basketball 2006–07 Schedule – Golden Hurricane Home and Away – ESPN
/ref> TU's first winning conference record in three years. In his seven years at Tulsa, Wojcik posted four consecutive 20-win seasons, including back-to-back 25-win campaigns, advanced to the championship game of the Conference USA Tournament in 2008 and 2009, won the inaugural

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 ...

title in 2008, and received two NIT at-large bids in 2009 and 2010. During his tenure, Tulsa was one of C‐USA's top defensive teams and ranked among the top defenses in the country. Wojcik developed three future NBA players in

Ben Uzoh Benjamin Chukwukelo Uzoh (born March 18, 1988) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player who plays for Marinos of the Venezuelan SuperLiga. He also plays internationally for . Standing at , Uzoh has played in the NBA for the New Jer ...

Jerome Jordan Jerome Adolphus Jordan (born September 29, 1986) is a Jamaican professional basketball player for Peñarol Mar del Plata of the Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB). He played college basketball for the University of Tulsa and represents the Jamaica ...

and Jordan Clarkson (2015 NBA All‐Rookie First Team and 2021 NBA Sixth Man of the Year), as well as Conference USA leading scorer Justin Hurtt. He also recruited four of the top 10 all-time leading scorers in Tulsa history in Uzoh (No. 3), James Woodard (No. 4), Hurtt (No. 8) and

(No. 10). During the 2011–12 season, Wojcik won his 138th game, passing

Clarence Iba Clarence Victor Iba (April 20, 1909 – April 21, 1997) was the head basketball coach at the University of Tulsa. Iba coached the Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball team for eleven seasons, from 1949 to 1960. He is the brother of former Ok ...

as the winningest coach in school history. However, citing a decline in season ticket sales, Tulsa released him on March 11, 2012.

College of Charleston

Wojcik became head coach at the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

in 2012 and coached there for two seasons, where he led his team to a 38–29 overall mark. In his first season, the team posted a 24–11 record and secured an appearance in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...

championship game, and earned a post-season berth to the

. In year two, Wojcik transitioned his second Division I program into a higher-ranked conference, the Colonial Athletic Association. In July 2014, an internal investigation found it "likely" Wojcik had been verbally abusive toward players. Outgoing president P. George Benson retained but suspended Wojcik for the month of August. On August 6, new president Glenn McConnell announced that Wojcik had been fired for "just cause." Since Wojcik was still under contract, the matter was briefly disputed between the two parties. However, in September 2014, Charleston and Wojcik reached a settlement, and agreed not to make further comments on the issue.

Gonzaga

Wojcik served as the special assistant to Gonzaga head coach

Mark Few Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has been a constant on the sidelines through ...

during the 2015–16 season, where the Bulldogs earned their fourth-straight West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles, their 18th consecutive appearance in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Tournament, and a second-straight Sweet 16 berth with a 28–8 overall record.

East Carolina

Wojcik served as the assistant men's basketball coach for East Carolina of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

for the 2017–18 season.

Michigan State

Wojcik was named

's Director of Recruiting for Michigan State during the 2018–19 season. That season, the

Spartans Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...

won both the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

regular-season and tournament championships, and advanced to the 2019 Final Four. In 2019–20, Michigan State won its third-consecutive

regular-season championship. In May 2021, Wojcik was promoted to assistant coach.

Personal life

Doug Wojcik married former Navy women's basketball and track athlete, Lael House, in 1998. Their two boys play college basketball: Paxson at

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

and Denham at Harvard. Doug Wojcik's younger brother

Dave Wojcik David Edward Wojcik (born December 12, 1968) is an American college basketball coach who was most recently head men's basketball coach at San Jose State. His brother, Doug, was also a head coach at the NCAA Division I men's level for basketball ...

was a longtime college basketball coach as well.

Head coaching record

References

External links