James A. Ferry Jr. (born July 9, 1967) 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 is the current head coach of the

UMBC Retrievers men's basketball The UMBC Retrievers men's basketball team represents the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I competition as a member of the America East Conference. They play thei ...

team. He formerly served as interim head coach for the 2020–2021 season at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

and the head men's basketball coach at Duquesne,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, Adelphi, and

Plymouth State Plymouth State University (PSU), formerly Plymouth State College, is a public university in the towns of Plymouth and Holderness, New Hampshire. As of fall 2020, Plymouth State University enrolls 4,491 students (3,739 undergraduate students and ...

Playing career

Ferry played one season at

NYIT The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a private research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long Island, and one in Manhattan. Additionally, it has a cybersecur ...

before transferring to

Keene State College Keene State College is a public liberal arts college in Keene, New Hampshire. It is part of the University System of New Hampshire and the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Founded in 1909 as a teacher's college (originally, Keene Norma ...

for his final three years where he led the Owls in scoring his junior year.

Coaching career

After graduation, Ferry stayed on as an assistant coach with his alma mater for one season before joining

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

as an assistant coach from 1991 to 1998. He'd accept his first head coaching job, a single season at Division III

, guiding the Panthers to the 1999

Little East Conference The Little East Conference (LEC) is an NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletic conference. The member institutions are located in all six states of New England. History Chronological timeline * 1986 - On April 28, 1986, the Little East Conf ...

regular season title. Ferry moved on to Division II Adelphi, where he stayed for three seasons, making three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including two Elite Eights. He also guided the Panthers to 30-straight wins during the 2000–01 season. In 2002, Ferry would be named the head coach at LIU Brooklyn, where he'd stay for 10 seasons, earning a pair of

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

regular season and tournament titles plus back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. Ferry would accept the head coaching position at Duquesne in 2012 where he'd coach for five seasons before being fired with a 60–97 overall record. Ferry would subsequently join

Pat Chambers Patrick Brian Chambers (born December 13, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and is the current head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. He is formerly the head men's basketball coach at Penn State and Boston University. Biography ...

' staff at Penn State in 2017 and was part of the program's 2018 NIT Championship squad. Following the resignation of Chambers on October 21, 2020, Ferry was named interim head coach at Penn State for the remainder of the season, putting together an 11–14 record. Ferry would not be retained by Penn State, which chose to hire

Micah Shrewsberry Micah Shrewsberry (born July 31, 1976) is an American basketball coach and former college basketball player who is the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Playing career Shrewsberry attended Cat ...

as its permanent head coach. On April 12, 2021, Ferry was named the head coach at UMBC, replacing

Ryan Odom Robert Ryan Odom (born July 11, 1974) is an American men's college basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the VCU Rams men's basketball team. He was previously the head coach of the Lenoir–Rhyne Bears, the UMBC Retrievers, and the ...

who departed for the head coaching position at

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

Head coaching record

References

External links