Michael Downs Bradbury (born 1969) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the

New Mexico Lobos women's basketball The New Mexico Lobos women's basketball team represents the University of New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference in the NCAA Division I. The team is coached by Mike Bradbury. Coaching history Pre Varsity Eras The UNM women's basketball team ...

team.

Coaching history

Bradbury served as an assistant coach at Xavier from 2002 until 2007, Cincinnati from 1996 until 2002, and VCU from 1995 until 1996 after beginning his career as an assistant coach at

ETSU East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although it is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, the university is governed by an institutional Board of Tr ...

from 1994 until 1995. He spent the 1991–92 and 1992–93 seasons as a student assistant coach at

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

before his first full-time assistant coaching assignment. From 2007 to 2010, Bradbury led

Morehead State Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ea ...

to a 50–44 record over the course of three seasons, including a 22–11 record and a bid to the WBI in his final season as head coach. The 22-win mark set the school's NCAA-era record for victories in a season, and the 14–4 conference mark in the same year set the school's single season conference wins record and was also the highest conference winning percentage in a season in school history. At

Wright State Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviation ...

from 2010 to 2016, Bradbury had five seasons with 20 or more wins and led the school to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2014, in addition to WBI appearances in 2011 and 2012 and WNIT appearances in 2015 and 2016. On March 31, 2016, New Mexico hired Bradbury as head women's basketball coach. In Bradbury's first season in 2016–17, New Mexico went 15–15, including 10–8 in Mountain West Conference (MW) games. Bradbury followed with two consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins and appearances in the

Women's National Invitation Tournament The Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament with a preseason and postseason version played every year. It is operated in a similar fashion to the men's college National Invitation Tournam ...

(WNIT) as New Mexico went 25–11 in 2017–18 and 24–7 in 2018–19 and qualified for the third round of the 2018 WNIT and first round of the 2019 WNIT. New Mexico freshman guard Jayla Everett won MW Freshman of the Year honors in 2019. The 2019–20 season began with high expectations, as the MW coaches' preseason poll picked New Mexico to finish second in the conference standings. Despite a 9–4 start to the season, New Mexico finished with a losing 15–17 record and tied for ninth in the conference standings with a 6–12 conference record. In mid-January 2020, Everett left the team and announced her intention to transfer. Shortly after Everett left the team, two former players went on the record with television station KRQE with allegations that Bradbury was verbally abusive. However, eleven other former players responded by posting an open letter on Twitter stating in part: "There was no mental or emotional abuse. We unequivocally deny these claims and fully support Mike Bradbury and the whole staff."

Personal life

Bradbury was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is married and has two sons, Alex and Chris, and a daughter, Sena Nicole. Sena was adopted from Ethiopia in April 2010, shortly after Bradbury accepted the head coaching position at Wright State.

Head coaching record

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References