Cliff Warren (born March 8, 1968) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach who is currently an assistant coach for the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the sport, athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. SMU was founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor Bears, Baylor, Rice Owls, ...

. He previously served as the head coach for

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonvill ...

Playing career

Born in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

, Warren played collegiately at

Mount St. Mary's University Mount St. Mary's University is a private Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland, United States. It has the largest Catholic seminary in the United States. Undergraduate programs are divided between the College of Liberal Arts, the Richar ...

from 1986 to 1990. Warren was a two-year starter for the Mountaineers, where he finished his career ranked in the top five in assists and top 50 in scoring in the school record book. As a senior in 1989–90, he averaged 10.4 points and 5.0 assists per game, while leading The Mount to its first winning season at the Division I level.

Assistant coach

Warren returned to his alma mater in 1994 to take his first coaching job as an assistant under Jim Phelan. Warren then served from 1997 to 2000 as an assistant at

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

under

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 t ...

. Warren spent five years under

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. Warren was a part of the coaching staff that led the Yellow Jackets to the 2004 national championship game, losing to

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Jacksonville University

Warren was hired as head basketball coach at

in 2005, following the retirement of legendary coach

Hugh Durham Hugh Nelson Durham (born October 26, 1937) is a retired American basketball coach. He was head coach at Florida State, Georgia, and Jacksonville. He is the only head coach to have led two different programs to their first Final Four appearances. ...

. Warren's first year at Jacksonville saw the Dolphins finish the season with only eight healthy players. They struggled to a 1–26 record, the worst performance in school history. In Warren's second year, the Dolphins pulled off the biggest turnaround in the country – improving from one win to a 15–14 record and a third-place finish in the

Atlantic Sun Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

. The Dolphins reached the finals of the 2008 Atlantic Sun men's basketball tournament, losing to Belmont. The following year, the Dolphins won their first Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season basketball championship. They also made their first trip to the postseason since

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

as the Dolphins received an automatic bid to the NIT. In 2009–10, the Dolphins returned to the NIT and faced the top-seeded

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the sport, athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's Varsity team, varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Divisi ...

in the first round. Jacksonville knocked off the Sun Devils on a 3-pointer by guard Ben Smith with 1.5 seconds left. It gave the Dolphins their first postseason win in eight games going back to the 1974 NIT. Jacksonville also reached 20 wins for the first time since 1986. In 2010–11, the Dolphins finished with a 20–12 overall record, earning wins over Auburn and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The Dolphins had back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1973–74. They were invited to the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Tournament, Jacksonville defeated

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

before falling to SMU in the second round. After a 12–18 season in 2013–14, Warren's contract was not renewed by Athletic Director Brad Edwards. He was 126–150 and 89–79 in the Atlantic Sun Conference in nine seasons at the helm of the Dolphins.

Team USA

Warren was an assistant coach for

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

at the

2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship The 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Latvian: 2011. gada FIBA pasaules čempionāts līdz 19 gadu vecumam) was the 10th edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested b ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Bio on Jacksonville's athletics site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Cliff 1968 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Maryland Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball coaches Jacksonville Dolphins men's basketball coaches Maryland Terrapins men's basketball coaches Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers men's basketball coaches Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers men's basketball players Basketball players from Silver Spring, Maryland Siena Saints men's basketball coaches UMass Minutemen basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen