Seth Vincent Greenberg (born April 18, 1956) 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 ...

broadcaster who works as an analyst for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. Prior to taking the position at ESPN he was a coach for 34 years, the last 22 as a head coach. Greenberg has been the head coach at

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

, the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

, and

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

. He was a two-time ACC Coach of the Year.

Early life and college playing career

Seth Greenberg is one of the three sons of Marilyn and Ralph Greenberg of

Plainview, New York Plainview is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located near the North Shore of Long Island in the town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 27,100. The Plainview post office has t ...

. Older brother

Brad Brad may refer to: * Brad (given name), a masculine given name Places * Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania * Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania * Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romania * ...

also became a college basketball coach. After graduating from John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview in 1974, Greenberg attended

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

in New Jersey. Lettering for four years in

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 ...

under coach Al Lobalbo, Greenberg graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in broadcast journalism.

Coaching career

Assistant coach at Columbia, Pittsburgh, Virginia, and the University of Miami (1978–87)

From 1978 to June 1980, Greenberg was an assistant coach at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

under Buddy Mahar. Greenberg later joined

Roy Chipman Leroy P. Chipman (April 24, 1939 – August 10, 1997) was an American basketball coach. Chipman was the head coach at Hartwick. The Hawks advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament seven times, including five consecutive bids from 1973 to 1977. ...

as an assistant 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 universit ...

from 1980 to 1983. In that era, Pittsburgh appeared in the NCAA Tournaments of

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. For the 1983–84 season, Greenberg was an assistant on

Terry Holland Michael Terrence Holland (born April 2, 1942) is an American college athletics administrator and former basketball player and coach. He is currently the emeritus director of athletics and special assistant to Chancellor Steve Ballard at East Carol ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

team that made the Final Four of the 1984 NCAA tournament. Greenberg later worked as an assistant under Bill Foster at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

from 1985 to 1987.

Long Beach State associate head coach (1987–90)

In 1987, Greenberg became associate head coach at

under Joe Harrington. Long Beach State appeared in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

s of

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

Long Beach State head coach (1990–96)

Long Beach State promoted Greenberg to head coach in 1990. In six seasons with Greenberg as head coach, Long Beach State went 105–70, second behind

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebe ...

for the most wins in the program's history. Postseason appearances during the Greenberg era included the 1992 NIT, 1993 NCAA tournament, and 1995 NCAA tournament. In the 1992–93 season, Long Beach State also had its first Top 25 ranking in 14 years.Long Beach State 49ers Index , College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
/ref> On January 25, 1993, Long Beach State upset #1

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

64–49 at

Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for the Jayhaw ...

. Long Beach State won the Big West tournament in 1993 and 1995. While at Long Beach, Greenberg was a mentor of two successful future

NBA 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 ...

players,

Lucious Harris Lucious H. Harris (born December 18, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round (28th pick overall) of the 1993 NBA draft. Harris has played for the Mavericks, Philadelp ...

and

Bryon Russell Bryon Demetrise Russell (born December 31, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player. During a National Basketball Association (NBA) career that spanned from 1993 to 2006, he played for the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards and ...

South Florida (1996–2003)

Greenberg was head coach at the

from 1996 to 2003 and had a 108–100 record there. South Florida became the

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

regular season champions in the 1999–00 season and made the NIT after the season. South Florida also made the 2002 NIT.

Virginia Tech (2003–12)

In nine seasons at Virginia Tech, Greenberg attained a 170–123 record. Greenberg's tenure at Virginia Tech began with the school's final season in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

before joining the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

in 2004. Following his second season at Virginia Tech that included an appearance in the

2005 NIT The 2005 National Invitation Tournament was the 2005 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. South Carolina defeated Saint Joseph's, 60-57, to earn the program's first NIT title. Selected teams Below is a list of the 40 teams s ...

, Greenberg won the ACC Coach of the Year award. In 2005, he helped donate 2,400 student tickets to the NIT game against Temple. In 2008, he increased the donations to 3000 tickets for students in all three NIT games played in Cassell Coliseum. During the 2006–07 season, Greenberg led the Hokies to a 22–12 record with signature victories against #5

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

on the road and #1

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

at home in an eight-day span. The victories landed the Hokies in the

AP Top 25 The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

for the first time in over a decade, and earned their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996. They received a #5 seed in the West bracket, but fell to

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

in the second round. Again in 2007–08, Virginia Tech had over 20 wins. Virginia Tech also made the quarterfinals of the

2008 NIT The 2008 National Invitation Tournament (known through sponsorship as the MasterCard NIT) was a single-elimination tournament of 32 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not participate in the 2008 NCAA Div ...

. Greenberg earned his second ACC Coach of the Year award. On January 21, 2009 the Hokies defeated #1 Wake Forest, 78–71. Wake Forest was the only remaining undefeated team in the nation at the time. Virginia Tech made each NIT from

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and had its most successful season under Greenberg in 2009–10 with a 25–9 record. On February 27, 2011 the Hokies defeated #1 Duke in Cassell Coliseum. Greenberg's tenure as Virginia Tech's head coach ended in April 2012, when Athletic Director Jim Weaver fired him at a surprise news conference. Greenberg was "completely blindsided and shocked" by Weaver's decision. Greenberg was replaced by his former assistant,

James Johnson James Johnson may refer to: Artists, actors, authors, and musicians *James Austin Johnson (born 1989), American comedian & actor, ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member *James B. Johnson (born 1944), author of science nonfiction novels *James P. John ...

. Greenberg is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and volunteered to coach the USA Men's Basketball team at the 19th

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in July 2013.

Awards

Greenberg was inducted into

The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, in Commack, New York, is dedicated to honoring American Jewish figures who have distinguished themselves in sports. Its objective is to foster Jewish identity through athletics, and to commemo ...

in 2012, and the Long Beach State Hall of Fame in 2013. In 1996 he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

Broadcasting career

Greenberg is a college basketball analyst for

Head coaching record

References

External links