Nate James (born August 7, 1977) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and former head coach at

Austin Peay State University Austin Peay State University (APSU) () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee, United States. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 ...

. He played college basketball for the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the N ...

College career

James, a

swingman A swingman is an athlete capable of playing multiple positions in their sport. Basketball In basketball, the term "swingman" (a.k.a. "wing" or "guard-forward") denotes a player who can play both the shooting guard (2) and small forward (3) positi ...

out of Saint John's at Prospect Hall, played for coach

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( , ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980–81 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, 1980 to 2021� ...

at Duke from 1996 to 2001. After appearing sparingly as a freshman, James suffered a medical redshirt in his sophomore season after six games. Returning in the 1998–99 season, James became a key reserve for the Blue Devils' 1999 Final Four team, averaging 5.0 points and 2.6 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per game.2011-12 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball media guide
accessed November 3, 2011 In his junior year, James was named co-captain of the 1999–2000 team with

Chris Carrawell Chris Carrawell (born November 25, 1977) is a retired American professional basketball player and coach who is currently the associate head coach for the Duke Blue Devils. He is best known for his college career at Duke, where he was a consensus ...

and

Shane Battier Shane Courtney Battier ( ; born September 9, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. He also worked for ESPN and recently joined the board of Yext. Battier is best known for his four years playing basketball at Duke, his 13 ...

. He also moved into the starting lineup and upped his averages to 11.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. As a senior, James was again named co-captain and led the Blue Devils to the 2001 NCAA championship. He was named third team All-Atlantic Coast Conference and tallied 12.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game for the Blue Devils. During his time at Duke, James scored 1,116 points and due to his redshirt year became the first player in ACC history to be a member of five regular-season conference championships.Nate James Duke coaching biography
, accessed November 3, 2011

Professional career

Following the close of his college career, James was not drafted by the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. After stints with the Summer League teams of the

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 ...

and

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

, he embarked on an international career. James' career would take him to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. James was a part of league championship teams in the Netherlands and Hungary.

Coaching career

In 2008, James retired from basketball and took a role as assistant strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater. Following the departure of assistant

Johnny Dawkins Johnny Earl Dawkins Jr. (born September 28, 1963) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the UCF men's basketball team. From 2008 to 2016, he was the head coach of Stanford. He was a two-time All-American an ...

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, James was elevated to a full assistant role for the 2009–10 season. Duke went on to win the 2010 national championship, making James the first person to win championships at Duke as both a player and as a coach. James would stay on as a full assistant for another season before moving to a special assistant role as former Blue Devil

Jeff Capel Felton Jeffrey Capel III (born February 12, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is currently the head men's basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh. He played for Duke University and was a head coach at V ...

joined the staff. On March 27, 2013, head coach

announced James would be moving back to the bench, naming him an assistant coach for the 2013–14 season, following the announcement that Associate Head Coach Chris Collins would leave the Blue Devils at end of the season to become the head coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. Following the departure of associate head coach Jeff Capel to become the head coach at the

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 ...

at the end of the 2018 season, James was promoted to co-associate head coach along with

Jon Scheyer Jonathan James Scheyer ( , born August 24, 1987) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball, Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). As a playe ...

. On April 2, 2021, James was appointed as the head coach of the

Austin Peay Governors The Austin Peay Governors are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Austin Peay State University (APSU or Peay), located in Clarksville, Tennessee, United States. The Governors athletic program is a member of the NCAA Division I Atlantic Sun Co ...

, replacing Matt Figger. He accumulated a 21–39 record during two seasons with the Governors. On March 5, 2023, James was fired as head coach.

Head coaching record

References