James Patrick Christian (born February 6, 1965) 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 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 * Coac ...

who is the head coach of the

Canisius Golden Griffins The Canisius University Golden Griffins are composed of 16 teams representing Canisius University in intercollegiate athletics. These teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, track, lacrosse, soccer, and swimming and diving. Men ...

. He previously served as the head coach at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, Kent State,

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Playing career

Christian was born in

Bethpage, New York Bethpage (formerly known as Central Park) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located within the Oyster Bay (town), New York, Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Isla ...

. He was an all-state guard at St. Dominic High School in nearby Oyster Bay while playing under Ralph Willard, who later was the head coach at

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, and Holy Cross. Following his prep career, Christian was recruited by coach

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (; born September 18, 1952) is an American basketball coach who is the head men's basketball coach at St. John's University (New York City), St. John's University. He was also the head coach of Greece national basketball t ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

where he played two seasons before transferring to the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

. Both Willard and Pitino also attended St. Dominic High School. Christian played his final two campaigns under

Tom Penders Thomas Vincent Penders (born May 23, 1945) is an American retired college basketball coach, who last coached from 2004 through 2010 at the University of Houston. He is from Stratford, Connecticut and has a 649–437 career record. As a college at ...

at the University of Rhode Island, where he helped the Rams reach the Sweet Sixteen of the 1988 NCAA tournament. The former standout guard guided the

Rams In engineering, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS)Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

before dropping a 73–72 decision to

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

in the Sweet 16 round. After earning his bachelor's degree in

consumer affairs Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent businesse ...

from the University of Rhode Island in 1988, Christian spent one season playing professionally in the

Australian Basketball Association The Australian Basketball Association (ABA) was a semi-professional basketball competition in Australia. The competition had five leagues under its banner during the 2000s operating as conferences: South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL ...

for the Sydney City Comets.

Coaching career

After returning to the United States, Christian became the

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

Hilltoppers' assistant coach under head coach Ralph Willard from 1990 to 1992. From there, Christian went on to assist head coaches Tom McConnell at Saint Francis University (1992–1994), Matt Kilcullen again at

(1994–1995),

Herb Sendek Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. (born February 22, 1963) is an American college basketball coach who is the current men's basketball head coach at Santa Clara. Early life Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. grew up in Pittsburgh and attended Penn Hills High S ...

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

(1995–1996), Ralph Willard at

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

(1996–1999), and

Stan Heath Stanley Heath III (born December 17, 1964) is an American basketball coach currently serving as the head coach for Eastern Michigan Eagles men's basketball, Eastern Michigan. Heath formerly served as head coach at the South Florida Bulls men's b ...

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

(2001–2002).

Kent State

After assisting former head coach

in the 2001–02 season, Christian became head coach at

from 2002 to 2008, where he led the Golden Flashes to six consecutive seasons of twenty or more wins, four

MAC Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

East division titles, two overall MAC titles, and two conference tournament championships. His teams also had five post-season appearances, three in the NIT and two in the NCAA Tournament. His record at Kent State was 137–59.

TCU

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

, Christian took over the position vacated by Neil Dougherty in March 2008. In Christian's final year coaching the Horned Frogs, he helped the program break a seven-year losing streak and gave them a bid in the College Basketball Invitational Tournament. The squad posted an 18–15 overall record, four more wins than in any season since 2004–05, and ended with its best finish ever in the Mountain West Conference at fifth place.

Ohio

On Tuesday, April 3, 2012, Christian was named the new head basketball coach at

, becoming the program's 17th head coach, after former head coach

John Groce John Gordon Groce (; born September 7, 1971) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Akron Zips men's basketball team. Prior to coaching for Akron, he was the head coach at Illinois and Ohio. Coaching career ...

left for

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. In Christian's first year, the Ohio Bobcats shared the MAC regular season title with Akron with a conference record of 14–2, Ohio's first regular season title since

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. Ohio earned themselves a No. 2 seed in the MAC tournament, where they beat Western Michigan 74–63. The following evening, Ohio lost to Akron 65–46 in the MAC Championships, losing a bid to the NCAA tournament. However, Ohio earned an

at-large bid At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

in the 2013 NIT tournament as a number 6 seed in the Alabama quadrant. On April 3, 2014, Christian resigned his position at Ohio to become the head coach at

, replacing Steve Donahue.

Boston College

On April 3, 2014, Jim Christian was named the Head Coach at Boston College. Under Christian, the Eagles saw little success, winning just 6 games in conference play in his first 3 seasons. They found some success in his fourth season, going 19–16, their best record since the 2010–2011 season. They also clinched an invitation to the NIT, their first postseason appearance since they went to the NCAA Tournament in 2009. That was however, the extent of their success under coach Christian as they finished with a losing record every other season. After starting the 2020–2021 season 3–13, Boston College fired Jim Christian as their head coach and named Scott Spinelli their interim coach. In seasons, Jim Christian was 78–132 overall, 26–94 in conference play.

Return to Kent State

On June 21, 2022, Jim Christian returned to Kent State as the Assistant Athletic Director.

Canisius

On April 8, 2024, Christian was named head coach at Canisius.

Personal life

Christian and his wife, Patty, were married in the summer of 2005, and have three children, MacKenzie, Zach, and Jay.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Boston College profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Jim 1965 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Australia American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Boston College Eagles men's basketball coaches Boston University Terriers men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Guards (basketball) Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball coaches Miami RedHawks men's basketball coaches Ohio Bobcats men's basketball coaches People from Bethpage, New York Basketball players from Nassau County, New York Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball coaches Rhode Island Rams men's basketball players Saint Francis Red Flash men's basketball coaches TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball coaches Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen