Christopher William Ensminger (born December 8, 1973) is an American professional

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

and former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player.

Playing career

High school

Born and raised in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

, Ensminger played high school basketball at

Oak Hills High School Oak Hills High School is a four-year public secondary school located in Bridgetown, Ohio, with a mailing address of Cincinnati. Oak Hills often is referred to as "OHHS" by its students and faculty. It is run by the Oak Hills Local School Distr ...

College career

Ensminger played four years of

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 ...

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of . Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso Universi ...

(1992–96), amassing 1,061 points and 910 rebounds. He helped Valpo win Mid-Con titles in 1995 and 1996, and left as the school's all-time leader in career rebounds. His record would stand for 21 years until Alec Peters broke the record on January 16, 2017 against Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Professional career

Ensminger started his professional career with Tours Basket in the French 2nd Division

ProB The ProB is the third-tier level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 24 teams, separated into a Northern and a Southern Division. Officially, the ProB is part of the '' 2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which con ...

league, in 1996, followed by stints in Portugal (

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Por ...

) and New Zealand ( North Harbour Kings). In 1999, Ensminger signed with SSV Weißenfels of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL seaso ...

, establishing himself as a dominant post player in the league right away. After two years with the Weißenfels team, he signed with fellow Bundesliga side TSK universa Bamberg (later known as Brose Bamberg). In his seven-year stay with the club, Ensminger was instrumental in helping Bamberg to German League championships in 2005 and 2007. He also played in international competition with the club, including the EuroLeague and the ULEB Cup (now called EuroCup). After parting ways with Bamberg, he spent the 2008–09 season with another German team,

Paderborn Baskets Paderborn Baskets 91 e.V., for sponsorship reasons named Uni Baskets Paderborn, is a basketball club based in Paderborn, Germany. The club currently plays in the ProA, the second highest basketball league in Germany. The club reached the Basketba ...

, and finished his playing career with a four-year stint with the

Telekom Baskets Bonn Telekom Baskets Bonn, also known as Baskets Bonn, is a German professional basketball club that is based in Bonn, Germany. The club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga, which is the highest level pro basketball league in Germany. The club's spon ...

(2009–13). Ensminger played in 485 games in his 14-year Bundesliga career, tallying a total of 5,438 points and 4,093 rebounds. He appeared in seven Bundesliga All-Star Games, and earned the

Eurobasket.com Eurobasket.com also commonly referred to as "Eurobasket News", is a basketball-centered website that provide coverages of every professional and semi-professional leagues around the world. Although primarily focusing on European basketball, th ...

website's All-Bundesliga Center of the Year honors in 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2010.

Coaching career

Ensminger moved into

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

immediately after his playing days were over, and he was named the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

of the German 2nd Division

ProA Proas are various types of multi-hull outrigger sailboats of the Austronesian peoples. The terms were used for native Austronesian ships in European records during the Colonial era indiscriminately, and thus can confusingly refer to the do ...

club Gotha Rockets, in May 2013. Under his tutelage, the Rockets reached the playoffs in three straight seasons, including berths in the semifinals in 2015 and 2016. Ensminger was relieved of his duties on January 31, 2017. He took over the head coaching position for BBU Allgäu/Memmingen (later named Orange Academy) in Germany's top-tier youth league NBBL prior to the 2017–18 season. Ensminger also became Director of Development and Sports Performance at a player development company in

Neu-Ulm Neu-Ulm ( Swabian: ''Nej-Ulm'') is the capital of the Neu-Ulm district and a town in Swabia, Bavaria. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 58,978 (31 December ...

, Germany.

References

External links

Euroleague profile
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ensminger, Chris 1973 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in New Zealand American expatriate basketball people in Portugal American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players from Cincinnati Brose Bamberg players FC Porto basketball players Harbour Heat players Mitteldeutscher BC players Paderborn Baskets players Telekom Baskets Bonn players Union Tours Basket Métropole players Valparaiso Beacons men's basketball players Centers (basketball)