Joshua Langford (born January 15, 1997) is an American

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 and former player. He is an assistant coach for the boys team at Madison Academy. He played

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 ...

for the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

. A native of

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

, he competed for Madison Academy at the high school level.

Early life and high school career

Langford is the son of Tellus Langford. When he was 12 years old attending a football camp, Josh fell ill and began experiencing headaches, a spiking fever, and hallucinations. He was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and nearly died, spending a week in the hospital. But when he recovered, he grew three inches and returned to playing basketball. At Madison Academy, Langford was a four-time Class 3A Player of the Year, a two-time Gatorade Alabama Player of the Year and a two-time state champion. He also taught Sunday School, volunteered for the

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in ...

and wrote poetry in his free time.

College career

Langford was a five-star recruit and was ranked as the 17th-best player of his class by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

. He declined offers from schools such as

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

. He announced that he would play for

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 ...

on June 22, 2015, citing the "family atmosphere" as the reason he chose the Spartans. Langford had 17 points, a career high, in a win against

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

in February 2017. In the first round of the NCAA tournament Langford contributed 13 as the Spartans blew out the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

78–58 to advance to the second round. Langford scored in double figures eight times as a freshman. He favored the mid-range shot, which is on the decline in basketball. In one game versus Notre Dame in November 2017, he had 17 points by utilizing his mid-range game. In another November game, Langford had the big offensive game for the Spartans, scoring a career-high 23 points as the Spartans defeated

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 ...

. Josh Langford scored 23 points to lead the Spartans to an easy win over Cleveland State on December 28. Langford added 22 points in the NCAA tournament win over Bucknell. Langford was limited to 13 games as a junior due to a foot injury. On December 19, it was announced that Langford would miss the entire 2019–20 season after undergoing foot surgery. He still has an extra season of eligibility. On November 25, 2020, Langford returned to the court for the Spartans for the first time since December of 2018 in Michigan State's 2020 season opener against

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

, scoring 10 points in the 83-67 victory. On April 4, 2021, Langford retired from playing basketball after a series of injuries.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 27 , , 21.0 , , .497 , , .416 , , .654 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , .1 , , 6.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 27.0 , , .429 , , .404 , , .849 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .1 , , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 13 , , 13 , , 28.0 , , .443 , , .403 , , .839 , , 3.6 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , .1 , , 15.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 26 , , 28.6 , , .377 , , .343 , , .745 , , 3.6 , , 2.3 , , .6 , , .3 , , 9.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 110 , , 101 , , 25.5 , , .431 , , .390 , , .789 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .1 , , 10.1

Post-playing career

Langford worked at Michigan State University's Broad College of Business as a program coordinator after his playing retirement. On May 17, 2023, it was announced that Langford would be returning to his alma mater, Madison Academy, as an assistant coach for the boys team.

References

External links

Michigan State Spartans bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langford, Joshua 1997 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Alabama Basketball players from Alabama McDonald's High School All-Americans Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Huntsville, Alabama