Jerrance Howard is an American

men's 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 Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

who currently serves as an assistant at

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of the Upland South than the Mi ...

. Prior to that he was an assistant men's basketball coach at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, under Chris Beard and he served eight years under

Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach. He is the head men's basketball coach at the University of Kansas, a position he has held since 2003. During his 19 seasons as head coach, he has led the Jayhawks to ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

. Since his time at Kansas, Howard has been known as one of the top recruiters in the nation. Two months after arriving at KU, Howard was ranked 12th among the top recruiting assistant coaches in NCAA Division I by ESPN.com in a survey of more than 200 head coaches.

Playing career

A Peoria, Illinois native, Howard was a four-year letter winner for the Fighting Illini from 2000 to 2004, including three seasons for Bill Self. During his career, Illinois compiled a record of 104–31 overall and was 48–16 in the Big ten conference. The Illini won three Big Ten Championships (2001, 2002, 2004), a Big Ten Tournament Title (2003) and appeared in the NCAA Tournament all four years, advancing to the Elite Eight in 2001 and the Sweet 16 in both 2002 and 2004. Howard Howard brings with him a strong playing career, over half of which was spent under Bill Self. He played point guard for the Illini along with All-Americans Frank Williams, Dee Brown and

Deron Williams Deron Michael Williams ( ; born June 26, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini before being drafted third overall in the 2005 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz. A thre ...

. Howard developed a reputation as the program's inspirational leader and was a team captain his junior and senior seasons. He also was a two-time winner of the Kenny Battle Award, an accolade voted upon by the players and coaches and given to an Illini who earns the respect of his teammates through hard work and effort in games and practice each day.

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2000–01 , style="text-align:left;",

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

, 25, , , , , , .267, , .000, , .500, , 0.4, , 0.4, , 0, , .0, , 0.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;",

, 21, , , , 3.9, , .389, , .286, , 1.000, , 0.6, , 0.7, , 0.2, , .0, , 1.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002–03 , style="text-align:left;",

, 14, , 1 , , 3.7, , .250, , .167, , , , 0.2, , 0.5, , 0, , .0, , 0.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , style="text-align:left;",

, 18, , 0, , 4.3, , .357, , .364, , .833, , 0.4, , 0.5, , 0.3, , 0.1, , 1.1 , -

Coaching career

Howard came to Kansas after one season in the same position on Larry Brown’s staff at SMU. Prior to SMU, Howard spent the previous five seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Illinois. He was also interim head coach for the Illini. While at Illinois he earned a reputation as one of the top young assistant coaches in the country and one of the nation’s best recruiters. Before Illinois, Howard spent three-plus seasons on

Billy Gillispie Billy Clyde Gillispie ( ; born November 7, 1959), also known by his initials BCG and Billy Clyde, is an American college basketball and current men's basketball coach at Tarleton State. Gillispie had previously been head coach at UTEP, Texas A ...

’s staffs at Texas A&M and Kentucky. In May 2013, Kansas head coach Bill Self hired Jerrance Howard as the Jayhawks’ third assistant coach. Howard filled the opening created when assistant

Joe Dooley Joe Dooley (born 13 November 1963) is an Irish former hurler and manager. Dooley enjoyed a successful playing career at club level with Seir Kieran and is the only Offaly player ever to have won three All-Ireland titles. After a spell as pla ...

left to take the coaching job at Florida Gulf Coast in mid-April. In April 2021, Bill Self announced that Howard had taken an assistant job under new University of Texas coach Chris Beard. On April 19th, 2023 Howard was announced as an assistant coach under

Bryan Mullins Bryan Mullins (born January 13, 1987) is a former American basketball player and current college basketball coach. He is currently head coach of the Southern Illinois Salukis men's basketball team. Playing career Mullins was a four-year letterwi ...

Personal life

Howard earned a bachelor's degree in speech communication from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...

in 2004. He is married to the former Jessica Wordlaw, who also is an Illinois graduate. The Howards have a son, Jerrance Jr., and a daughter, Jaya Brooklyn-Rose.

References

External links

Kansas coach profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Jerrance 1980 births Living people Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball coaches Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball coaches SMU Mustangs men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Peoria, Illinois Texas Longhorns men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players