Jerry Pimm is an American former

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. He served as the head men's basketball coach at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

from 1974 to 1983 and the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

from 1983 to 1998, compiling career

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 ...

coaching record of 395–288.

Playing career

Playing for Montebello High School, Pimm earned the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owners ...

's Central Section co-high school player of the year in 1956. He played at Fullerton Junior College in 1956-1958. He then played guard at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, where he earned second-team All-Athletic Association of Western Universities and All-Coast Team honors in 1960.

Coaching career

Pimm replaced former Utah coach Bill Foster, who had accepted the same position with the

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...

Blue Devils, in 1974 after serving 13 years as an assistant coach at the school. As coach of the Utes, Pimm led Utah to a 173-86 (.668) record, including four Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA tournament. The Utes also won 3

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of t ...

basketball titles and only had one losing season during his stay. In 1981, the Utes lost to eventual champion North Carolina, led by Sam Perkins, Al Wood, James Worthy and Michael Jordan. The Utes were led by Danny Vranes, Tom Chambers and Karl Bankowski. In the 1983 NCAA Men's basketball tournament, Pimm's Utes were seeded 10th in the west regional, but led by Peter Williams and

Pace Mannion Pace Shewan Mannion (born September 22, 1960) is an American retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and in the Italian league with the team of Cantù (which won the FIBA Korać Cup in 1991 d ...

, Utah upset 7th seed Illinois and 2nd seed UCLA before losing to eventual champion North Carolina State. After the season, Pimm decided to leave the University of Utah for the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to Pimm's career at UCSB, the Gauchos program had suffered through seven straight losing seasons. After a shaky start, which saw three more losing seasons, the Gauchos turned it around in the 1986-87 season, where they finished with a 16-13 record. The next season would be Pimm's best at UCSB. Led by conference player of the year

Brian Shaw Brian Keith Shaw (born March 22, 1966) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He could play both guard positions, but wa ...

, the Gauchos went 22-8, including an 18-point win over

Jim Valvano James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Caroli ...

's North Carolina State team (with Chucky Brown,

Charles Shackleford Charles Edward Shackleford (April 22, 1966 – January 27, 2017) was an American professional basketball player. He played center and power forward, he was renowned for his rebounding – regularly leading leagues in Europe. He played 6 seasons in ...

, and Vinny Del Negro), and two wins over

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 ...

's UNLV Runnin' Rebels (the second win coming when UNLV was ranked #2). UCSB earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth, but they lost to the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

in the first round, 92-82. In 1990, UCSB once again made the NCAA Tournament (propelled by a 78-70 win over top-ranked and eventual national champion UNLV), this time beating the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

70-66 in the first round before falling to #1 seed Michigan State 62-58 points in the 2nd round. Under Pimm, UCSB also played in three

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 Cit ...

s. In the mid-late 90s, UCSB had suffered through five straight losing seasons, and Pimm resigned, although he later took a job with the athletic department. Pimm went 217-187 (.537) in 16 seasons with the Gauchos. He holds an all-time record of 390-273 (.588) in 25 years as a head coach. Pimm assisted

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head c ...

with the US national team at the

1986 Goodwill Games The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. The Ga ...

and the

1986 FIBA World Championship The 1986 FIBA World Championship was the 10th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Spain and was held from 5 to 20 July 1986. The final phase of the tournament was held at the ...

, winning the gold medal both times. Jamie Dixon and Ben Howland both were assistant coaches for Pimm while at UCSB.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pimm, Jerry Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from California College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Guards (basketball) Junior college men's basketball players in the United States UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's basketball coaches USC Trojans men's basketball coaches USC Trojans men's basketball players Utah Utes men's basketball coaches