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Reggie Witherspoon Named a Court Coach for USA Basketball's U18 National Team Trials

Reggie Witherspoon

The USA Basketball Men's Collegiate Committee, chaired by Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, selected Witherspoon along with Ron Contrell of Houston Baptist, Mike Dunlap of Metropolitan State, James Jones of Yale, Scott Gernander of San Jacinto College and Bruce Weber of Illinois.

Following the selection of finalists for the USA squad, the Americans will continue to train June 19-27 in San Antonio. The tournament, which will qualify four teams for the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championships, is being held June 28-July 2 at the Bill Greehey Arena on the campus of St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

The men's collegiate committee also selected the University of Washington's Lorenzo Romar as head coach of the 2006 USA Men's U18 National Team and Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt and DePaul's Jerry Wainwright as assistant coaches.

Witherspoon has spent seven seasons (1999-00 to present) as the head coach at UB ­ he was tagged interim head coach five games into the 1990-00 season and was made permanent in March of 2000 ­ and his record with the program is 85-123 (.409 winning percentage). He led the 2005-06 Bulls to 19-13, including 12-3 at home.

"It's really an honor to be thought of and asked to contribute," Witherspoon said. "Anytime you get athletes that play basketball at the national level together, it’s an opportunity to learn. The whole thing is really very exciting."

The 2004-05 season was record-breaking for Buffalo as the 23-10 Bulls set school records for wins (23), field goals made (876), three-pointers made (220) and steals (290). Buffalo also reached the school¹s first Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament championship game and, with an NIT appearance, secured its first postseason berth since becoming a Division I program. Witherspoon was named the 2005 National Association of Basketball Coaches District I co-Coach of the Year and the Man of the Year by the Buffalo Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women¹s Club, Inc.

In 2003-04, Buffalo boasted the second-best turnaround in the nation, from 5-23 in 2002-03 to 17-12. The Bulls enjoyed their first-ever home playoff game in the opening round of the MAC Tournament, reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. After helping his squad to their best conference record (11-7) since joining the MAC in 1998, Witherspoon was named the 2004 MAC Coach of the Year, collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Coach of the Year and the Division I co-Coach of the Year by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York. Buffalo¹s 12-18 record in 2001-02, an eight-game improvement from the year prior, was good for the sixth-best turnaround in Division I.

Before joining Buffalo, Witherspoon coached two seasons, 1997-98 and 1998-99, and the first nine games of the 1999-00 season at Erie Community College (N.Y.). His record at ECC was 44-23 (.657 winning percentage). In 1998-99, after guiding his team to a 24-5 mark and a Region III title, Witherspoon was named the Region III Division I Coach of the Year and the Western New York Athletic Conference Coach of the Year for the second time (1998 and 1999). Before making the leap to college basketball, Witherspoon coached 13 years at Sweet Home High School in Amherst, N.Y., including eight (1984-85 through 1991-92) seasons as an assistant and five (1992-93 through 1996-97) as a head coach. His team set a school record with four straight division championships (1994 through 1997).

As an athlete, Witherspoon played at Erie Community College and Wheeling Jesuit University (W.Va.).

2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship For Men

Originally known as the FIBA Americas Junior World Championship Qualifier, the tournament has been held every four years since 1990. USA men’s teams boast of a sensational 25-1 overall record in the U18/junior qualifiers and have won gold in 1990, 1994 and 1998, while capturing bronze most recently in 2002. The awarding of the U18 Championship For Men to USA Basketball and San Antonio marks the first time the event has been hosted in the United States.

Some of the top players who have represented the United States in past U18 tournaments include Shareef Abdur-Rahim (1994); Carmelo Anthony (2002); Chris Bosh (2002); Dee Brown (2002); Nick Collison (1998); Grant Hill (1990); Allan Houston (1990); Andre Iguodala (2002); Stephon Marbury (1994); Mike Miller (1998); Quentin Richardson (1998); and Deron Williams (2002).

2006 USA Basketball Men's FIBA Americas U18 Championship Coaching Staff Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar, University of Washington
Assistant Coach: Paul Hewitt, Georgia Institute of Technology
Assistant Coach: Jerry Wainwright, DePaul University
Trials Court Coach: Ron Cottrell, Houston Baptist University
Trials Court Coach: Mike Dunlap, Metropolitan State College of Denver
Trials Court Coach: James Jones, Yale University
Trials Court Coach: Scott Gernander, San Jacinto College
Trials Court Coach: Bruce Weber, University of Illinois
Trials Court Coach: Reggie Witherspoon, University at Buffalo