Witherspoon Named UB Men’s Basketball Coach

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo named Reggie Witherspoon its head men's basketball coach today (March 10) following a three-month national search.

Witherspoon, a native Buffalonian, had been named the interim coach on Dec. 4 following the resignation of Tim Cohane. Witherspoon, who signed a multi-year contract, becomes the 11th head coach in Bulls' basketball history and the third since Buffalo returned to Division I play in the 1991-92 season.

During his period as interim coach, Witherspoon tripled the team's win output in the highly-competitive Mid-American Conference from last season. Buffalo also saw its first three-game home court winning streak since the 1997-98 season.

"This was an extremely competitive search process with many outstanding candidates," said Director of Athletics Bob Arkeilpane. "What really stood out in my mind was the way Reggie handled the difficult situation he encountered with such dignity and class. In addition, he was able to improve the quality of play in the team despite taking over in mid-season.

"With Reggie's past record of success, his tremendous connections in and around Western New York and, most importantly, his high moral standards, in the end I felt like he was the man who could lead us to a MAC championship," said Arkeilpane.

Witherspoon has 17 years of collegiate and high school coaching experience in Western New York and has enjoyed considerable success during his coaching career. In his two-plus seasons at Erie Community College he produced a 44-23 record and in 1998-99 earned Region III Division I Coach-of-the-Year honors after leading the Kats to a 24-5 record and a Region III title.

In his first season at ECC, Witherspoon led the program to a 19-10 record and was named Western New York Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, an honor he repeated in the 1998-99 season as well. During his tenure at ECC, Witherspoon produced four Division I players, two All-Americans and one Academic All-American.

Prior to coming to Erie CC, Witherspoon spent 13 years at Sweet Home Central School, eight as an assistant and five as head coach. During his five years as head coach, his teams won four straight divisional championships, the first and only time that happened in school history.

Off the court, Witherspoon has been extremely involved in community work. He served as Director of Amateur Athletic Events for the Big 4 from 1996-98 and founded, along with Jim Kwitchoff and Joe Corey, a program called Athletes Committed to Excellence (ACE) in 1991.

Through his work with ACE, Witherspoon has worked on and off the court with some of Western New York's best youth basketball players, including Malik Campbell (Syracuse), Jason Rowe (Loyola, Md.), Tim Winn (St. Bonaventure), Jim Pieri (Cornell), Gary Raimondo (Columbia) and UB's own Damien Foster.

Witherspoon is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Basketball Coaches Association of New York. He is active in Western New York Athletics in many roles, including being a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors.

Witherspoon earned his associate degree from Erie Community College and a bachelors degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Empire State College.

He is married to the former Dawn Taggart, and the couple has two daughters, Lydia, 7, and Rachel, 5.