Mark Prosser is an American college basketball coach and current head coach of the
Winthrop Eagles men's basketball
The Winthrop Eagles men's basketball team represents Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, United States and competes in the Big South Conference. Winthrop plays their home games in the 6,100 seat Winthrop Coliseum. Winthrop has appe ...
team.
Playing career
Prosser played one season of basketball at Marist before injuries stopped a playing career. He continued on with the Red Foxes as a student assistant coach until his graduation in 2002.
Coaching career
Coaching beginnings
After graduation, Prosser landed his first assistant coaching position at
Wofford Wofford may refer to:
People with the surname
*Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford, 1931–2019), American writer
*Dan Wofford, American politician
*Harris Wofford (1926–2019), U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, 1991-1995
*James C. Woffor ...
under Mike Young, where he stayed for one season before heading to Bucknell for a five-year stint as an assistant for
Pat Flannery
Pat Flannery (born September 23, 1957) is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball at Lebanon Valley College from 1989 to 1994 and Bucknell University from 1994 to 2008. Flannery was born in Pottsville ...
, where he was part of the Bison staff when the team upset Kansas during the 2005 NCAA tournament. Prosser returned to Wofford in 2008 where he stayed until 2011 when he accepted the head coaching job at Division II Brevard College. In one season at Brevard, Prosser recorded a 5-23 record, and subsequently resigned his position to accept a coaching position under Pat Kelsey at Winthrop.
Western Carolina
On March 27, 2018, Prosser became the 18th head coach in Western Carolina history, replacing
Larry Hunter
Larry Hunter (August 8, 1949 – May 4, 2018)
2018-19: First season
Prosser led the Catamounts to a 7–25 record (4–14 in the Southern Conference) in his first season.
2019-20: 12 win improvement
In his second season at Western Carolina, Prosser guided the Catamounts to a 19-12 record as WCU finished with the second-most improved mark across NCAA Division I men's basketball. The Catamounts reached the SoCon Tournament semifinals for the first time since the 2015–16 season, and had a pair of First Team All-Southern Conference and NABC All-District players in senior forward Carlos Dotson and redshirt junior guard Mason Faulkner. College Insider recognized Prosser's achievement as he was honored with the Skip Prosser 'Man of the Year' Award, named after his father.
2020-21: COVID struggles
Coming into 2020–21 looking to continue off last season's success, Prosser led the team to an 11–16 record (4–13 in Southern Conference). After a 7–2 start, the Catamounts struggled in conference play, winning just 4 of their next 17 games and losing in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament.
Winthrop
On April 2, 2021, Prosser's return to Winthrop was made official, as he replaced Pat Kelsey as head coach. Prosser previously served as Associate Head Coach for the team from 2013–2018. Six games into his first season, the Eagles beat the University of Washington to notch Prosser's first win as head coach at WU against a Power 5 conference and Winthrop's first win ever against a
PAC-12
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
team. The 2021–22 team went undefeated at home (13-0), which hadn't been done since the nationally ranked 2006–07 team, and finished the regular season first in the South Division and second overall in the Big South. Prosser's 14 regular season league wins are tied for the most all time in the history of the Big South for a first year Head Coach in the league alongside
Terry Truax
Terry Truax (June 10, 1945 – February 15, 2015) was an American basketball coach, best known for his tenure as head coach for Towson University from 1983 to 1997.
Truax played college basketball at Maryland before embarking on his coaching car ...
who won 14 games in 1992–93. Additionally, Prosser's 23 wins on the season are the most in Winthrop and Big South history for a coach in his first year.
Personal life
Prosser is the son of the late
Skip Prosser
George Edward "Skip" Prosser (November 3, 1950 – July 26, 2007) was an American college basketball coach who was head men's basketball coach at Wake Forest University at the time of his death. He was the only coach in NCAA history to take three s ...