James Allen Wooldridge (born August 22, 1955) is an American former

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 and athletics administrator. Wooldridge was head coach at Central Missouri State,

Texas State Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, and

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

. After his coaching career, Wooldridge served as athletic director at

and

Riverside City College Riverside City College (RCC) is a public community college in Riverside, California. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System. History RCC first opened in 1916 at ...

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

, Wooldridge played on

Putnam City High School Putnam City High School (commonly, PC, Putnam City Original, and PCO) is a secondary school located in Warr Acres, Oklahoma, a northwestern suburb of metropolitan Oklahoma City, U.S.. It is one of three high schools in the Putnam City School Dis ...

's class 4A state basketball championship team in 1972. Playing at

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

for the

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and Lady Techsters, commonly abbreviated La. Tech and Dawgs, refer to the sports teams of Louisiana Tech University, in Ruston, Louisiana. The teams compete in Division I of NCAA sports. Since 2013, Louisiana Tech has bee ...

under head coach Emmett Hendricks from 1974 to 1977, Wooldridge was part of the Louisiana Tech team that won the 1976

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

regular season title. He earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activ ...

in 1977 and master's degree in education from

East Central University East Central University (ECU or East Central) is a public university in Ada, Oklahoma. It is part of Oklahoma's Regional University System. Beyond its flagship campus in Ada, the university has courses available in McAlester, Shawnee, and Duran ...

in 1979.

Coaching career

Early coaching career (1977–1985)

Wooldridge began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Louisiana Tech in 1977–78 under new head coach

J.D. Barnett Joseph Donald Barnett (born January 10, 1944) is an American retired college basketball coach. He was a former head basketball coach at several NCAA Division I, Division I institutions, the most high-profile being VCU Rams men's basketball, Virgini ...

. His first full time coaching job was at East Central, an

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

school where he was an assistant coach from 1978 to 1982. From 1982 to 1985, Wooldridge was an assistant coach at Central Missouri State (now Central Missouri) under Lynn Nance.

Central Missouri State (1985–1991)

In 1985, Wooldridge was promoted to head coach. In six seasons as head coach, Wooldridge went 130–49, with three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 1989 to 1991. The 1989–90 team went 27–6 for the second most wins in program history.

Southwest Texas State (1991–1994)

Wooldridge got his first

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

head coaching job at Southwest Texas State (now

) in 1991. In three seasons, Texas State improved from 7–20 in 1991–92 to 25–7 with the

Southland Conference men's basketball tournament The Southland Conference's men's basketball tournament began in 1981, with the winner of the tournament receiving the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. From 1981 to 2001, the first round of the tou ...

title in 1993–94. As a result of winning the Southland Tournament, Southwest Texas State qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. In three seasons, Wooldridge was 46–40 at Southwest Texas State.

Louisiana Tech head coach and NBA assistant (1994–2000)

In 1994, Wooldridge returned to his alma mater to be head coach at Louisiana Tech. After debuting with a 14–13 record, Wooldridge was less successful at Louisiana Tech than his previous two head coaching jobs. In four seasons, Wooldridge went 52–59. From 1998 to 2000, Wooldridge was an assistant coach for the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

of the NBA under former college teammate

Tim Floyd Tim Floyd (born February 25, 1954) is a former American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He was formerly the head coach of several teams in the NCAA and the NBA. Floyd is also kn ...

Kansas State (2000–2006)

Wooldridge returned to college coaching in 2000 at

. In six seasons, Wooldridge went 83–90 at Kansas State. Although his last two teams had winning records, none of his teams had more than six wins in

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

play or qualified for the NCAA Tournament or NIT. Kansas State fired Wooldridge on March 9, 2006; athletic director Tim Weiser said that an NCAA Tournament invitation was necessary for Wooldridge to keep his job. Kansas State's 59-55 win at rival

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 the ...

on January 14, 2006 was the only win in the

Sunflower Showdown The Sunflower Showdown is the series of athletic contests between Kansas State University and the University of Kansas athletic programs, most notably football and men's basketball. The name is derived from the official nickname for the state ...

rivalry series during the Wooldridge era and Kansas State's most recent win at

Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for the Jayhaw ...

as of 2022.

UC Riverside (2007–2013)

From 2007 to 2013, Wooldridge was head coach at

, where he went 70–112. In his second season, Wooldridge led UC Riverside to a 17–13 record in 2008–09, which would end up being his only winning season there. Wooldridge's college coaching career concluded in 2013 with a 381–350 record over 25 seasons at five programs.

Administrative career

After stepping down as head coach of UC Riverside basketball, Wooldridge was named interim athletic director at UC Riverside in July 2013 and later named Director of Intercollegiate Athletics in January 2014. After two years in this role, Wooldridge resigned in October 2014. In July 2015, Wooldridge was named interim athletic director at

. In the summer of 2016, Wooldridge was elevated to the job long term. On March 30, 2020, Wooldridge announced that he would retire in July.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wooldridge, Jim 1955 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Oklahoma Central Missouri Mules basketball coaches Chicago Bulls assistant coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States East Central Tigers men's basketball coaches East Central University alumni Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball coaches Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball coaches Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball players Basketball players from Oklahoma City UC Riverside Highlanders athletic directors UC Riverside Highlanders men's basketball coaches Junior college athletic directors in the United States