Brian Francis Gregory (born December 15, 1966) 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 who was most recently the head men's basketball coach at South Florida. He was previously serving as a consultant to

Tom Izzo Tom Izzo (, ); born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo has led the Spart ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

after being let go as head coach with

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. Prior to coaching at Georgia Tech, he was the head coach at

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

and an assistant coach under Izzo at Michigan State.

Early life and education

From 1985 to 1986, Gregory attended the U.S. Naval Academy where he played on the Navy team that featured

David Robinson David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...

and advanced to the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

of the NCAA tournament. He then went to Oakland University where he was a three-time all conference selection and in 1990 was named an Academic All-American. In 1990, Gregory graduated from Oakland University with a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in athletic administration at

, graduating in 1992.

Coach

Michigan State

Gregory was an assistant at

for five years, from 1999 to 2003, under head coach

. During that time, the Spartans reached the Final Four three times and won the 2000 national title.

Dayton

On April 9, 2003, Gregory was named the head basketball coach of the

Dayton Flyers The Dayton Flyers are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Dayton of Dayton, Ohio. All Flyers intercollegiate sports teams participate at the NCAA Division I level. The football team competes in the Division I FCS non-schola ...

. As Flyers head coach, he led the team to the 2004 and the

2009 NCAA tournament The 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament in which 65 schools competed to determine the national champion of the men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2008–09 basketball ...

as well as the

2008 National Invitation Tournament 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 Divis ...

. On January 14, 2008, Gregory led the Dayton Flyers to a top-14 ranking in the AP poll. This was the highest ranking for Dayton in 40 years. He capped off the 2009–10 season by leading the Flyers to the 2010 NIT championship over

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 ...

. Gregory had a 172–94 record with the Flyers over eight seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances.

Georgia Tech

On March 28, 2011, it was announced that Gregory would become the 13th head coach at

replacing

Paul Hewitt Paul Harrington Hewitt (born May 4, 1963) is an American college basketball coach and the former head coach at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and George Mason University. He grew up in Westbury, New York. In 2021, he was named ...

. Gregory struggled at Georgia Tech, only finishing above .500 two times. He failed to make a postseason appearance in his first four years at Georgia Tech. On March 16, 2015, Georgia Tech announced that Gregory would continue as head basketball coach for another year, despite the fact he never had a conference finish higher than ninth. In the 2015–16 season, Georgia Tech improved, finishing the season 21–15 and did receive a bid to the National Invitation Tournament, their first postseason trip under Gregory. The Yellow Jackets won two games before losing in the quarterfinals. After a 5th consecutive losing record in the ACC, Georgia Tech Athletic Director

Mike Bobinski Michael Bobinski (born October 28, 1957) is the current Director of Athletics at Purdue University. Bobinski was named as the new athletic director for Purdue on August 9, 2016. Prior to that, Bobinski was the athletic director at Georgia Tech, ...

announced on March 25, 2016, that Gregory would not return for the 2016–17 season. His record was 76–86 overall and 27–61 in ACC play. Gregory would serve as a consultant to his old head coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State during the 2016–17 season.

South Florida

On March 14, 2017, Gregory was hired as head coach at South Florida to replace Orlando Antigua. USF went 10–22 in Gregory's first season, which was the first time the program posted ten wins since the 2014–15 season – the first of the Antigua era. It posted a 7–11 record at the

Yuengling Center Yuengling Center (formerly the USF Sun Dome) is an indoor arena on the main campus of the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. Construction began in November 1977, and it opened on November 29, 1980. It is located in USF's Athl ...

(formerly the USF Sun Dome), but struggled away from home, collecting just three wins away from Tampa. The Bulls finished 3–15 in AAC play, last in the conference and was a first-round exit in the 2018 conference tournament. Gregory welcomed nine new players to the program for the 2018–19 season. USF also was benefitted by Gardner–Webb transfer Laquincy Rideau, who came off a redshirt season in 2017–18 and Alexis Yetna's addition to the hardwood. It started the season 10–2 through non-conference play before going 8–10 in AAC play. Under Gregory's eye, Rideau earned an AAC Defensive Player of the Year honor, while Yetna was named the league's Freshman of the Year for their efforts during the regular season. Although it was bounced in the first round of the conference tournament yet again, this time by

UConn 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 ...

, USF received a bid to play in the

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...

, the third tier postseason college basketball tournament. The Bulls came back from a 25-point deficit to defeat Stony Brook in the first round before defeating

Utah Valley Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

and Loyola Marymount to reach the CBI finals. In a three-game series against DePaul, the Bulls took two-of-three (63–61, 96–100 OT, 77–65) to win the tournament. Sophomore guard David Collins was named as the tournament's MVP. In the process, USF finished 24–14 and had the largest improvement among

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

teams. Three Bulls – Rideau, Collins and Yetna – were named preseason all-conference selections before the 2019–20 season. Yetna, who had battled a leg injury and rehabbed over the previous summer, suffered a devastating knee injury in practice prior to the team's season opening game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and was ruled out for the season. Former

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

transfer Mayan Kiir left the team as well, turning the Bulls into one of the largest teams in the AAC to one of the smallest teams in the conference. As a result, the Bulls struggled offensively and failed to reach 70 points in 24 in 31 of their games. However, USF was extremely strong on the defensive side of the court, ranking 20th in the NCAA in scoring defense (62.7 PPG), while holding 27 of its 31 opponents under their season scoring average at the time of play. USF failed to put together a second straight winning season under Gregory, going 14–17 and 7–11 in AAC play. The Bulls were slated to play War on I-4 rival UCF in the first round of the conference tournament before the conference announced the cancelation of the game due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, just 65 minutes before tipoff between the Bulls and Knights. Over the extended break caused by the coronavirus, the Bulls added length and saw the return of Yetna to the starting rotation. Former

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

PF Prince Oduro and

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

C Russel Tchewa joined the squad and the Bulls brought in consensus four-star combo guard Caleb Murphy to bolster a team that just lost two seniors and one outgoing transfer. USF was picked to finish 5th in the AAC in the 2020–21 season. Gregory won his 300th career game as a head coach on December 12, 2020, against Wofford. It was announced on January 4, 2022, that Gregory's contract would be extended until the 2025–26 season, as a part of 14 overall head coach extensions executed by USF Vice President of Athletics Michael Kelly. On March 10, 2023 Gregory was relieved of his duties as South Florida Head Coach.

Head coaching record

References

External links

South Florida profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Brian 1966 births Living people American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Dayton Flyers men's basketball coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball coaches Michigan State Spartans men's basketball coaches Navy Midshipmen men's basketball players Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball coaches Oakland Golden Grizzlies men's basketball players People from Mount Prospect, Illinois South Florida Bulls men's basketball coaches Toledo Rockets men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Point guards Military personnel from Illinois