Zachary John Spiker (born September 30, 1976) 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 the current head

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 ...

coach for the Drexel Dragons. A native of

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...

, Spiker played college basketball at

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

. He was previously the head coach at

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. He attended The Hill School. In the 2012–13 season, Spiker lead Army to its first overall winning record since 1984–85 (a drought of 28 years), and also the Black Knights' first ever winning record in the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

. For his efforts, Spiker was named 2012-13 Patriot League Coach of the Year, the first Army head coach in eleven years to win the award. Spiker has joined

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

and Mike Krzyzewski as the only coaches in Army history to win at least 65 games in their first five seasons. In 2013–14, the Black Knights set a school record for wins in the Patriot League (10), had only their second season with a winning conference record, and had their first ever back-to-back seasons with winning conference records - all under Spiker. Finally, under Spiker, Army had its first four-year streak of 15 plus wins (2012–16) since 1920–24. On March 25, 2016, Spiker was hired as head coach of Drexel to replace former head coach

Bruiser Flint James "Bruiser" Flint (born July 23, 1965) is an American men's college basketball coach, currently an assistant coach at Kentucky. He was most recently the head coach at Drexel University in west Philadelphia, where he was born and raised. Col ...

. His first year at Drexel concluded with a 9-23 record. On February 22, 2018, Spiker led Drexel to a 34-point comeback win over

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, the largest comeback win in Division 1 history.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Drexel Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiker, Zach 1976 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Army Black Knights men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from West Virginia Basketball players from West Virginia College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Cornell Big Red men's basketball coaches Drexel Dragons men's basketball coaches Ithaca Bombers men's basketball players Sportspeople from Morgantown, West Virginia The Hill School alumni