Stephen Christopher Pikiell ( ; born November 21, 1967) 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 and since March 16, 2016, the head men's basketball coach at

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

. Prior to Rutgers, Pikiell was the head coach at Stony Brook for over a decade, leading the Seawolves to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2016. In 2021, Pikiell led Rutgers to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 30 years.

Early years and playing career

Pikiell was born and raised in

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The ...

, and was one of nine children and graduated from St. Paul Catholic High School in Bristol in 1986. At the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, Pikiell worked as a point guard, two-year captain and four-year letterwinner for the Huskies from 1987 to 1991. He played in 106 career games and averaged 8.2 points a game as a freshman. While Pikiell was the team captain, Connecticut won its first Big East title and advanced to the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen. In 1991, Pikiell was given the UConn Club Senior Athlete Award for outstanding contributions to UConn athletics.

Coaching

After graduation, Pikiell stayed on as an assistant to the UConn staff before moving on to

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, as an assistant coach from 1992–95. During 1995-96, Pikiell served as the interim head coach at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

. Then, his former coach and colleague

Howie Dickenman Howard Brandt Dickenman Jr. (born November 9, 1946) is a retired American college basketball coach and the former men's basketball head coach for the Central Connecticut State University Central Connecticut Blue Devils men's basketball, Blue Devi ...

became the head coach at Central Connecticut State and hired Pikiell as an assistant coach, where he stayed from 1997–2001, with the Blue Devils reaching the NCAA Tournament in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. Pikiell joined fellow UConn alum

Karl Hobbs Karl Bernard Hobbs II (born August 7, 1961) is an American men's college basketball coach, currently the associate head coach at Georgia Tech. He is the former head coach of the George Washington University Colonials men's basketball team. Dur ...

as an assistant at

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 ...

from 2001–05, where he was part of the Colonials 2004 NIT and 2005 NCAA tournament squads.

Stony Brook

On April 13, 2005, Pikiell replaced

Nick Macarchuk Nick Macarchuk (born June 26, 1941) is a former men's college basketball head coach. He was the head coach at Canisius, Fordham, and Stony Brook. He was honored with the 1987 Norwich Native Son Award. Macarchuk earned A-10 coach of the year i ...

as the 10th head coach in program history. At the time, Pikiell became the first Connecticut alum who played for Calhoun to coach a Division I program. Taking over a program that transitioned to Division I in 1999, Stony Brook endured three-straight losing seasons in his first three years. In the 2008–09 season, the Seawolves went 16–14 for its first winning season as a Division I program. The following year in 2009–10, Stony Brook earned their first regular season championship with a 22–10, 13–3 record, ending with a semifinal loss in the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

. By virtue of winning the regular season, Stony Brook earned an NIT bid but lost to

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 ...

. Pikiell guided the Seawolves to a 15–17 mark in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, making a run to the America East Championship game after an upset over top-seeded

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

in the semifinals, but lost to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

on a last-second foul. From 2011 to 2016, Stony Brook won three America East regular season titles, while winning the conference tournament for the first time in school history in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

en route to the Seawolves' first NCAA tournament appearance. In that span, Stony Brook went 117–47, while appearing in two NIT and two CBI tournaments in addition to the NCAA Tournament appearance. His overall record at Stony Brook was 192–155 in 11 seasons.

Rutgers

On March 19, 2016, Pikiell was announced as the next coach at Rutgers. During the 2019–20 season, Pikiell led Rutgers to a 20–11 overall record and 11–9 in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. He earned the

Jim Phelan Award The Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award (formerly called the CollegeInsider.com National Coach of the Year Award from 2003 to 2009) is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's college basketball head coach in NCAA Division I c ...

for national coach of the year from Colleginsiders.com. On March 14, 2021, Pikiell's Rutgers team was named to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1990–91 season. The Scarlet Knights earned a 10 seed in the tournament. On March 19, 2021, Rutgers won its first NCAA Tournament game in 38 years, beating Clemson 60–56. This was also Pikiell's first win as a coach in the NCAA Tournament.

Head coaching record

References