Nate James (born August 7, 1977) is a former 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 ...

player and currently the head coach at Austin Peay.

College career

James, a 6'6" (1.98 m) swingman out of Saint John's at Prospect Hall, played for coach

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five nati ...

at Duke from 1996 to 2001. After appearing sparingly as a freshman, James suffered a medical redshirt in his sophomore season after six games. Returning in the 1998–99 season, James became a key reserve for the Blue Devils' 1999 Final Four team, averaging 5.0 points and 2.6 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per game.2011-12 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball media guide
accessed November 3, 2011 In his junior year, James was named co-captain of the 1999–2000 team with Chris Carrawell and Shane Battier. He also moved into the starting lineup and upped his averages to 11.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. As a senior, James was again named co-captain and led the Blue Devils to the 2001 NCAA championship. He was named third team All- Atlantic Coast Conference and tallied 12.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game for the Blue Devils. During his time at Duke, James scored 1,116 points and due to his redshirt year became the first player in ACC history to be a member of five regular-season conference championships.Nate James Duke coaching biography
, accessed November 3, 2011

Professional career

Following the close of his college career, James was not drafted by the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

. After stints with the Summer League teams of the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

and

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

, he embarked on an international career. James' career would take him to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Japan, Bosnia, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. James was a part of league championship teams in the Netherlands and Hungary.

Coaching career

In 2008, James retired from basketball and took a role as assistant strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater. Following the departure of assistant

Johnny Dawkins Johnny Earl Dawkins Jr. (born September 28, 1963) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the UCF men's basketball team. From 2008 to 2016, he was the head coach of Stanford. He was a two-time All-American ...

to Stanford, James was elevated to a full assistant role for the 2009–10 season. Duke went on to win the 2010 national championship, making James the first person to win championships at Duke as both a player and as a coach. James would stay on as a full assistant for another season before moving to a special assistant role as former Blue Devil

Jeff Capel Felton Jeffrey Capel III (born February 12, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh's Panthers men's basketball team. He played for Duke University and was ...

joined the staff. On March 27, 2013, head coach

announced James would be moving back to the bench, naming him an assistant coach for the 2013–14 season, following the announcement that Associate Head Coach Chris Collins would leave the Blue Devils at end of the season to become the head coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. Following the departure of associate head coach Jeff Capel to become the head coach at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

at the end of the 2018 season, James was promoted to co-associate head coach along with

Jon Scheyer Jonathan James Scheyer (, born August 24, 1987) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Scheyer led his high school team to an Illinois ...

. On April 2, 2021, James was named the 13th head coach in Austin Peay history, replacing Matt Figger.

Head coaching record

References