Stephen Christopher Pikiell ( ; born November 21, 1967) 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 ...

coach and since March 16th, 2016, the head men's basketball coach at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

. Prior to Rutgers, Pikiell was the head coach at Stony Brook for over a decade, leading the Seawolves to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2016. In 2021, Pikiell led Rutgers to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 30 years.

Early years and playing career

Pikiell was born and raised in

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, the ...

, and was one of nine children and graduated from St. Paul Catholic High School in Bristol in 1986. At the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

, Pikiell worked as a point guard, two-year captain and four-year letterwinner for the

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

from 1987 to 1991. He played in 106 career games and averaged 8.2 points a game as a freshman. While Pikiell was the team captain, Connecticut won its first Big East title and advanced to the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen. In 1991, Pikiell was given the UConn Club Senior Athlete Award for outstanding contributions to UConn athletics.

Coaching

After graduation, Pikiell stayed on as an assistant to the UConn staff before moving on to

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, as an assistant coach from 1992–95. During 1995-96, Pikiell served as the interim head coach at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

. Then, his former coach and colleague

Howie Dickenman Howard Brandt Dickenman, Jr. (born November 9, 1946) is a retired American college basketball coach and the former men's basketball head coach for the Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils. He was the second-longest tenured head coac ...

became the head coach at

Central Connecticut State Central Connecticut State University (Central Connecticut, CCSU, Central Connecticut State, or informally Central) is a public university in New Britain, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1849 as the State Normal School, CCSU is Connecticu ...

and hired Pikiell as an assistant coach, where he stayed from 1997–2001, with the Blue Devils reaching the NCAA Tournament in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Pikiell joined fellow UConn alum

Karl Hobbs Karl Bernard Hobbs II (born August 7, 1961) is an American men's college basketball coach, currently the associate head coach at Rutgers University. He is the former head coach of the George Washington University Colonials men's basketball team ...

as an assistant at

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

from 2001–05, where he was part of the Colonials 2004 NIT and 2005 NCAA tournament squads.

Stony Brook

On April 13, 2005, Pikiell replaced Nick Macarchuk as the 10th head coach in program history. At the time, Pikiell became the first Connecticut alum who played for Calhoun to coach a Division I program. Taking over a program that transitioned to Division I in 1999, Stony Brook endured three-straight losing seasons in his first three years. In the 2008–09 season, the Seawolves went 16–14 for its first winning season as a Division I program. The following year in 2009–10, Stony Brook earned their first regular season championship with a 22–10, 13–3 record, ending with a semifinal loss in the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. By virtue of winning the regular season, Stony Brook earned an NIT bid but lost to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Pikiell guided the Seawolves to a 15–17 mark in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, making a run to the America East Championship game after an upset over top-seeded

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

in the semifinals, but lost to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

on a last-second foul. From 2011 to 2016, Stony Brook won three America East regular season titles, while winning the conference tournament for the first time in school history in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

en route to the Seawolves' first NCAA tournament appearance. In that span, Stony Brook went 117–47, while appearing in two NIT and two CBI tournaments in addition to the NCAA Tournament appearance. His overall record at Stony Brook was 192–155 in 11 seasons.

Rutgers

On March 19, 2016, Pikiell was announced as the next coach at Rutgers. During the 2019–20 season, Pikiell led Rutgers to a 20–11 overall record and 11–9 in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. He earned the

Jim Phelan Award The Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award (formerly called the CollegeInsider.com National Coach of the Year Award from 2003 to 2009) is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's college basketball head coach in NCAA Division I ( ...

for national coach of the year from Colleginsiders.com. On March 14, 2021, Pikiell's Rutgers team was named to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1990–91 season. The Scarlet Knights earned a 10 seed in the tournament. On March 19, 2021, Rutgers won its first NCAA Tournament game in 38 years, beating Clemson 60–56. This was also Pikiell's first win as a coach in the NCAA Tournament.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pikiell, Steve 1967 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Connecticut Basketball players from Connecticut Central Connecticut Blue Devils men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States George Washington Revolutionaries men's basketball coaches People from Bristol, Connecticut Point guards Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball coaches Stony Brook Seawolves men's basketball coaches UConn Huskies men's basketball coaches UConn Huskies men's basketball players Wesleyan Cardinals men's basketball coaches Yale Bulldogs men's basketball coaches