Dale Layer (born May 16, 1958) is an American basketball coach, currently a special assistant to head coach

Buzz Williams Brent Langdon "Buzz" Williams (born September 1, 1972) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at Texas A&M University. He previously served as head coach at Virginia Tech from 2014 to 2019, Marquette from 2008 to 2014, and New Orl ...

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 ...

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. ...

. Previously he served as an assistant coach for the

Greensboro Swarm The Greensboro Swarm are an American basketball team of the NBA G League based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and are affiliated with the Charlotte Hornets. The Swarm play their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse. The team became ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He was previously the head coach of the

Liberty Flames men's basketball The Liberty Flames men's basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents Liberty University. They play their home games at Liberty Arena and are members of the ASUN Conference, having moved there in July 2018 after 27 seasons in th ...

team. He was fired by the university on March 5, 2015 after finishing the season with only a 2–16 conference record and an 8–24 overall record.Marquette assistant to coach Liberty
/ref> It marks his second stint as a coach at Liberty; he spent the 2007-2008 campaign as an assistant to

Ritchie McKay Ritchie Lawrence McKay (born April 22, 1965) is an American basketball coach who is in his second stint as the head coach of the Liberty Flames of Liberty University. McKay for the last 6 seasons had been the associate head coach to Tony Bennett f ...

Biography

Layer started his coaching career in 1980 after graduating from his alma mater

Eckerd College Eckerd College is a private liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded in 1958, part of the campus is waterfront and beach on Boca Ciega Bay. Because of its location, Eckerd is considered a "beach school" and has its own student ...

. He spent seven of the next eight years at Eckerd (he was an assistant at

Eastern Kentucky University Eastern Kentucky University (Eastern or EKU) is a public university in Richmond, Kentucky. As a regional comprehensive institution, EKU also maintains branch campuses in Corbin, Hazard, Lancaster, and Manchester and offers over 40 online un ...

during the 1982–1983 season. He then made the jump to the head coaching ranks, accepting a job at

Queens University of Charlotte The Queens University of Charlotte is a private university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has approximately 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students through the College of Arts and Sciences, the McColl School of Business, the Wayland H. Cato, ...

. He amassed 167 wins against 87 losses in nine years as the head coach, and also served as the school's athletic director. In 1998, Layer accepted a job at

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

as an assistant after

accepted the head coaching position. Layer helped lead the Rams to an NIT appearance in 1999, defeating

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 Univers ...

and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

before losing to the eventual champion,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. When McKay left CSU in 2000, Layer was promoted to the head job. Layer guided the team to its first NCAA Tournament bid in 13 years, in 2003. He was twice voted the region's coach of the year by the National Basketball Coaches Association. But after seven years and a 103–106 record (and 31–71 in conference play), Layer was fired. He rejoined McKay's staff shortly after McKay accepted the job at

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...

. Layer stayed for a year before heading off to be an assistant to head coach

at Marquette. After the 2008–2009 season, McKay left Liberty and accepted a job as associate head coach at

the University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective adm ...

. Liberty contacted Layer about filling the head coaching vacancy, and Layer accepted. Layer led the 2012–13 team to a surprise Big South championship and an NCAA bid with a 15–20 record. On September 26, 2016, Layer was appointed an assistant coach of the

, a new

franchise. On June 13, 2017 Layer joined

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...

University as an assistant coach.

Head coaching record

References

External links