James Samuel Vincent (born May 18, 1963) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and coach. Vincent won the State of Michigan "Mr. Basketball" award in 1981, the first year the award was given. He attended Lansing's Eastern High School, where he scored 61 points in one game as a senior, breaking the previous city scoring record of 54 set by

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

at Everett High School. A 6'2"

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

, Vincent followed in the footsteps of his older brother

Jay Vincent Jay Fletcher Vincent (born June 10, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'7" forward, Vincent played at Michigan State University under coach, Jud Heathcote, where he teamed with Magic Johnson and Greg Kelser to win ...

, attending

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

and earning ''

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honors in 1985. After graduating from college, he was selected by the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

with the twentieth pick of the 1985 NBA draft. He played two seasons for the Celtics, winning an

NBA Championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

ring as a reserve in 1986, before joining the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

, who promptly traded him to 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 ...

for

Sedale Threatt Sedale Eugene Threatt (born September 10, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Threatt played college basketball at the West Virginia Institute of Tech ...

. After one-and-a-half solid seasons with the Bulls, he was selected by the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

in the 1989 NBA

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansion ...

, and he finished his NBA career with the Magic in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. He scored 3,106 points and tallied 1,543 assists during his seven-year tenure in the league. Shortly after retiring, Vincent worked at

Disney's Wide World of Sports The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur s ...

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

. During the late 1990s, he coached basketball in South Africa, and he has also coached in Greece, Netherlands,

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, and the

NBDL The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, he led the Nigerian women's basketball team to a 68–64 victory over South Korea, which was the first ever victory by an African nation in an Olympic women's basketball contest.

Coaching career

He was coach of the

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in the 2005–06 season. Shortly after coaching the Nigeria men's team to the second round of the

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

(including a shocking upset of traditional power

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

), he was hired as an assistant coach by the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

. On May 25, 2007 Vincent was introduced as the new head coach of the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

of the

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. On April 26, 2008 Vincent was relieved of his head coaching duties. Later that year, Vincent was named the head coach of the

Anaheim Arsenal The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

of the NBA Development League.

Nigerian national basketball team

Vincent assumed coaching the D'Tigress at the 2004 summer olympics. He led the team to a 68–64 victory over south-Korea, the victory was the first victory by an African side in the women's basketball event in the Olympics. In 2005, Sam Vincent led the Nigerian Women Basketball team to their second tournament victory in the FIBA African Basketball Championship (Afrobasket). Vincent returned as the team's head coach in 2017. He led the team to a 100 per cent performance in the 2017 FIBA African women's basketball tournament Afrobasket in Bamako, Mali. The team clinched their third Afrobasket title by defeating Senegal by 65–48 points in the final and consequently qualifying for the FIBA women's basketball World cup in Spain. Vincent had his appointment as head coach of the Nigeria Women's Basketball Team terminated by the

Nigeria Basketball Federation The Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) is the governing body for men's and women's basketball in Nigeria. NBBF has been an affiliate of FIBA Africa since 1963, and its offices are located in Abuja and Lagos. FIBA competitions The senior men's ...

on Thursday, August 2 while the team was preparing for the

2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup The 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, the 18th edition of FIBA's premier international tournament for women's national basketball teams, was held in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain from 22 to 30 September 2018. This was the first edition to u ...

. Vincent was appointed as head coach of the Bahrain National team replacing Serbian coach Darko Russo. This was after having coached the Riffa, Manama and AlAhli clubs.

Head coaching record

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Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

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References

External links

NBA.com coach profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Sam 1963 births Living people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands American expatriate basketball people in South Africa American expatriate sportspeople in Nigeria American men's basketball players American women's basketball coaches Anaheim Arsenal coaches Aris B.C. players Basketball coaches from Michigan Basketball players from Michigan Boston Celtics draft picks Boston Celtics players Charlotte Bobcats head coaches Chicago Bulls players Dallas Mavericks assistant coaches Fort Worth Flyers coaches Gymnastikos S. Larissas B.C. coaches McDonald's High School All-Americans Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Mobile Revelers coaches Orlando Magic expansion draft picks Orlando Magic players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Point guards Seattle SuperSonics players Sportspeople from Lansing, Michigan 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople