James John Patsos (born October 1, 1966) is an American

sports commentator In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

and former

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 served as an assistant coach, then head coach at Loyola (MD) and

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 ...

, and is now a commentator and broadcaster.Former Siena basketball coach hired for new job
/ref> He currently serves as the color commentator for

Towson Towson () is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is t ...

and

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

men's basketball games.TOWSON UNIVERSITY MEN’S BASKETBALL ANNOUNCES BROADCAST AGREEMENT WITH NBC SPORTS WASHINGTON
/ref>NBC Sports Washington to Air Nine GW Basketball Games
/ref> Patsos earned his B.A. from

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univers ...

in 1989. There, he played basketball under Jack Bruen, who later coached

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

to a couple of NCAA tournament appearances in the 1990s.

Early career

Patsos served on the coaching staff of

Gary Williams Gary Bruce Williams (born March 4, 1945) is an American university administrator and former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Maryland, the Ohio State University, Boston College, and American University. ...

at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

for 13 years, beginning as a volunteer assistant in 1991. Patsos took over at Loyola after they suffered a 1–27 season under former coach Scott Hicks. Patsos was the 20th head coach of Loyola men's basketball. In his first season as coach in 2004, he guided them to a 6–22 record. In his second season, they reached 15–13, the first time they had a winning record since the 1993–94 season, the year they reached the NCAA Tournament under

Skip Prosser George Edward "Skip" Prosser (November 3, 1950 – July 26, 2007) was an American college basketball coach who was head men's basketball coach at Wake Forest University at the time of his death. He is the only coach in NCAA history to take three ...

. On Dec. 22, 2009 a Patsos led Loyola team recorded the greatest regular season win in program history by defeating the Indiana Hoosiers 72–67. The Hounds led by as many as 22, before the Hoosiers rallied to take a late lead. Senior guard Brett Harvey led the Hounds back scoring 9 points in the final 3 minutes. Patsos has guided the Greyhounds to multiple 3rd place MAAC finishes, finishing with 18 wins in 2006–07 and a tied a school record with 19 wins in 2007–08. Patsos has sought local talent in his coaching staff. Former players from Maryland, Terrell Stokes and Matt Kovarik are former assistants at Loyola. A former member of his staff at Loyola was current Loyola Head Coach G.G. Smith, the son of college basketball coach

Tubby Smith Orlando Henry "Tubby" Smith (born June 30, 1951) is an American college basketball coach who last coached the men's basketball team at High Point University, his alma mater. Smith previously served in the same role at the University of Tulsa, t ...

Patsos received a contract extension from Loyola on July 9, 2008. Per Loyola policies, details of the contract were not released. On November 25, 2008, Patsos and the Greyhounds double-teamed Davidson All-American and future NBA All-Star

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player and point guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the ...

for the entire game, leaving his other three players to face the 24th ranked Wildcats in a four on three game. Davidson won by 30, while Curry stood in the corner during most possessions. Commenting afterwards, Patsos said: "We had to play against an NBA player tonight. Anybody else ever hold him scoreless? I'm a history major. They're going to remember that we held him scoreless or we lost by 30? I know the fans are mad at me, but I had to roll the dice as far as a coach goes. I'm not some rookie coach," said Patsos, a former longtime assistant at Maryland. "I won a national title as a top assistant coach to Gary Williams. For 13 years I spent on Tobacco Road. I coached a couple of No. 1 picks in the draft. And we scored 48 points. That's the problem that Loyola basketball had today." (implying that his team's offense cost them the game, not their defense).

Siena Saints

After nine seasons at Loyola, Patsos agreed to replace Mitch Buonaguro in a similar capacity at

on April 2, 2013.

2013-2018

On November 19, 2013 Patsos recorded his first win at Siena in a 72–70 triumph over St. Bonaventure. In his first season at the helm, Patsos guided the Saints to their first winning season since 2010 as the program capped off a 20-18 year which ended in a CBI championship. The title was the program's second ever national postseason championship (1950 National Catholic Invitational). After starting the season 7-12, Siena finished the regular season strongly with an 11-9 conference record and fifth-place finish before losing in the MAAC Quarterfinals to Canisius 71-65. The Saints were selected to play in College Basketball Invitational. Siena defeated Stony Brook 66-55 in the first round. The Saints then won a thriller beating Penn State from the Big Ten Conference 54-52 in the Quarterfinals. After a 61-49 win over Illinois State in the semifinals; Siena defeated Fresno State in the best-of-three CBI championship series. Siena won game one on the road 61-57 after rallying from 12 down in the second half. The Bulldogs would tie the series before the Saints would clinch the title with an 81-68 victory in game three. Siena finished the season winning nine of their final 11 games. On April 13, 2018 Patsos resigned from Siena after 5 years with a 77-92 career record after the college opened an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior in the program.

Broadcasting career

Since Siena, Patsos has worked as a broadcaster and commentator, discussing

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...

and

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

NBA games, and as a color commentator for Towson and George Washington.

Head coaching record

Controversies

On November 19, 2008 Jimmy Patsos became one of the only coaches ever to coach from the stands during his team's game in an attempt to avoid being ejected by the referees. On November 25, 2008 Patsos was roundly criticized for appearing to prefer holding Davidson player

scoreless over winning the basketball game by double-teaming Curry while he stood in the corner while Davidson played 4 on 3 against the remaining players. In his post-game press-conference, Patsos justified his strategy by stating that "We had to play against an NBA player tonight. Anybody else ever hold him scoreless? I’m a history major. They’re going to remember that we held him scoreless or we lost by 30?" On January 17, 2017 after a brawl in a game vs Rider, the Broncs and their head coach decided not to shake hands with Patsos and his team. In response Patsos walked down the line where he would've shaken the Rider team and staffs and, decided to air shake their hands. In response, Patsos received a reprimand from the NCAA, along with the Rider Basketball Coach, Kevin Bagget. Siena won the league game 78-68.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patsos, Jimmy 1966 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Massachusetts Basketball players from Boston Catholic University Cardinals men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States Loyola Greyhounds men's basketball coaches Maryland Terrapins men's basketball coaches Siena Saints men's basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen