Joseph Winston Scott (born July 28, 1965) 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 currently in his second stint as the head coach at

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

. Scott previously was head coach at Air Force once before, as well as at

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Early life and education

Growing up on Pelican Island near

Toms River, New Jersey Toms River is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County.Toms River High School East Toms River High School East is a comprehensive four-year public high school, the third high school built in Toms River in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Toms River Regio ...

, where he set the school's basketball career scoring record. Scott played at point guard in high school and set a school record for career basketball points with 1,550. As a player in the mid-1980s, Scott learned the " Princeton offense," a methodical system that seeks high-percentage shots by passing until the right opportunity rather than a fast-pace offense with more shots. As a result, Scott has frequently instituted a deliberate pace as a coach, often coaching the slowest-paced team in the country. In 1990, Scott earned his J.D. degree at

Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 1 ...

and became a personal injury lawyer at New Jersey law firm Ribis, Graham, & Carter. In 2004, Scott reflected on his legal career: "If you are not a public defender or a prosecutor, most of the time what you are trying to do is help yourself, and when I was doing what I was doing every day, I sat there and said, ‘Who am I helping?’ It's all about billing hours."

Coaching career

Early coaching career (1991–2000)

After being an assistant coach at

Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter. There are about 4,400 full ...

for the 1991–92 season, Scott returned to Princeton as an assistant coach, first under

Pete Carril Peter Joseph Carril (July 10, 1930 – August 15, 2022) was an American basketball coach. He is best known as head coach of Princeton University for 30 years and for his use of the "Princeton offense". He also coached at Lehigh University an ...

from 1992 to 1996 and

Bill Carmody William D. Carmody (born December 4, 1951) is a retired American men's college basketball coach, formerly the head coach at the College of the Holy Cross. He was the head coach of the Wildcats men's basketball team at Northwestern University ...

from 1996 to 2000. Scott's time as assistant coach included a 1996 win over defending champion

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

in the NCAA Tournament and a no. 7 ranking and another second-round NCAA appearance in 1998. The 1998 team earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the highest ranking ever for an Ivy League school.

First stint at Air Force (2000–2004)

From 2000 to 2004, Scott was head coach at

. Scott accrued a 51–63 record, starting with an 8–21 record but improving each season. In 2003–04, Scott led Air Force to a 22–7 record,

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

regular season title, and an at-large NCAA tournament appearance. Scott earned Mountain West Coach of the Year honors and finished fourth in polling for AP Coach of the Year.

Princeton (2004–2007)

Scott succeeded John Thompson III as the head coach at Princeton in 2004 and had a 38–45 record through three seasons. The team finished sixth in the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

in 2004–05, his first season, with a 6–8 record, before rebounding to a 10–4 mark good for second place in the conference in 2005–06. Scott Greenman, a senior point guard, became Scott's first and only First-Team All-Ivy player in 2006.

Denver (2007–2016)

Scott then served as head coach at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

from 2007 to 2016. During these nine seasons, Denver went 146–132 and had one postseason appearance, in the NIT, in the same year Denver shared the regular season WAC title in its lone season in the conference. On March 11, 2016, Denver fired Scott with two years remaining on his contract. An associate vice chancellor at Denver commented: "We want to get to the NCAA Tournament in men’s basketball. We looked at what Joe’s team had done over the nine years and decided it was time to make a transition. Postseason success had not occurred."

Holy Cross and Georgia assistant (2016–2020)

On May 23, 2016, Scott became an assistant coach at Holy Cross for his second stint working under Bill Carmody, having previously been an assistant under Carmody at Princeton from 1996 to 2000. After two seasons with Holy Cross, Scott was hired by

Tom Crean Tom or Thomas Crean may refer to: *Thomas Crean (1873–1923), Irish rugby union player, British Army soldier and doctor *Tom Crean (explorer) (1877–1938), Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer *Tom Crean (basketball) Thomas Aaron Crean (born Ma ...

to be an assistant at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

Second stint at Air Force (2020–present)

On March 31, 2020, Scott returned to Air Force for his second stint as head coach.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Scott's wife, Leah Spraragen, is a 1992 Princeton graduate who played at point guard for

Princeton Tigers women's basketball The Princeton Tigers women's basketball team is the intercollegiate women's basketball program representing Princeton University. The school competes in the Ivy League in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Tig ...

. They have two children.

References

External links

Air Force bio

Georgia Bulldogs bio

Holy Cross Crusaders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Joe 1965 births Living people Air Force Falcons men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New Jersey Basketball players from New Jersey College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Denver Pioneers men's basketball coaches Georgia Bulldogs basketball coaches Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball coaches Monmouth Hawks men's basketball coaches Point guards Princeton Tigers men's basketball coaches Princeton Tigers men's basketball players Sportspeople from Toms River, New Jersey Toms River High School East alumni New Jersey lawyers Notre Dame Law School alumni