Jim Hatfield (December 28, 1943 – February 26, 2025) was 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. He was head coach of the Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns,

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

, and the Hardin–Simmons Cowboys.

Biography

Hatfield played at East Tennessee State. Following the close of his college career, he joined the coaching ranks. An assistant at

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

from 1972 to 1974, he was hired as head coach of the University of Southern Louisiana (now the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a Public university, public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus Universi ...

) in 1975 following a college basketball scandal there. He compiled a record of 47–35 in three seasons and was then hired to coach Mississippi State of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC). Hatfield coached three seasons for the Bulldogs, ultimately resigning at the end of the 1980–81 season. He then coached at Hardin–Simmons for two seasons before returning to Kentucky as an assistant. Hatfield died on February 26, 2025, at the age of 81.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Division I coaching record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatfield, Jim 1943 births 2025 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Birmingham–Southern Panthers men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball players Hardin–Simmons Cowboys basketball coaches Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coaches Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen