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Princeton University Athletics
Joe Scott Named Head Coach At Air Force Academy
April 10, 2000 | Men's Basketball
April 10, 2000
Air Force Academy Director of Athletics Col. Randall W. Spetman announced on April 7 that former Princeton assistant coach Joe Scott has been named the Academy's fourth head men's basketball coach. Scott will be formally introduced Monday, April 10, at a press conference at the Academy beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST.
"I'm very excited to announce that Joe is our new head basketball coach," Spetman said. "He's a person of integrity who comes from a prestigious institution and a great basketball program that deals with the same type of young men as we do at the Academy. Joe has great credentials and has worked with some of the best people in college basketball."
The 1999-2000 season marked Scott's eighth year as a coach with Princeton and fourth as the No. 1 assistant. Scott, one of the top point guards in Princeton history in his playing days, has helped lead his alma mater through an era of sustained national success and recognition. In his coaching tenure at Princeton, Scott has worked for both Hall of Fame coach Pete Carril and his successor, Bill Carmody. Scott has helped Princeton to an overall record of 163-61, an Ivy League record of 91-22, a Top 10 national ranking, three Ivy League championships, five consecutive post-season appearances and one of the most memorable wins in NCAA tournament history.
Princeton has averaged 23 wins per year during his four seasons as the No. 1 assistant to Carmody, Princeton had a total of three seasons with at least 23 wins in the 95 years of the program prior to that. The Tigers are 37-19 against schools that offer athletic scholarships (which Princeton does not) in the last five seasons. Included in that record are wins over Florida State, Texas and UNC Charlotte on consecutive nights to win the 1998 Rainbow Classic in Hawaii and wins over Georgetown and North Carolina State in the 1999 NIT. Of those 56 games against scholarship schools, only 11 were home games.
Since returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach, Scott has helped recruit and coach two All-Americas, three Ivy League Players of the Year, one Ivy League Rookie of the Year and nine first-team all-Ivy League players. In addition Scott has coached nine players at Princeton who have gone on to play professionally.
After serving as an assistant coach for one year at Monmouth University, Scott went to Princeton for the 1992-93 season. Joining a staff that had seen its roster wiped out after a four-year Ivy League championship run, Scott was a central figure in rebuilding the Tigers and taking the program to unprecedented heights. Scott helped the Tiger recruiting effort that landed three freshmen starters in 1995 and two more in 1996, and those groups were the cornerstone of Princeton's resurgence. It paid off in 1996. That year the Tigers went 22-7, won the Ivy League championship and knocked off defending national champion UCLA 43-41 in one of the greatest games in NCAA tournament history before losing to eventual Final Four participant Mississippi State.
Carril retired after that season, and Scott moved to the first assistant's seat next to Carmody. The 1996-97 season saw Princeton go 14-0 in the Ivy League and 24-4 overall while moving into the Top 25 and earning yet another NCAA tournament berth. The 1997-98 season was even better, as the Tigers went 27-2 for the best record in Division I basketball, went 14-0 in the Ivy League, saw its national ranking rise as high as seventh and earned a fifth seed-the Ivy League's highest ever-in the NCAA tournament. Princeton followed that season with a 22-8 record and a trip to the NIT quarterfinals in 1999.
Scott has helped Princeton turn over its roster yet again and still not fall off. With a predominantly freshman/sophomore team (and with eight players combining to miss a total of 87 games due to injuries), Princeton in 1999-2000 went 19-11 and made its second-straight NIT appearance, giving the program five straight post-season appearances for the first time in its history.
Scott, a 34-year-old Pelican Island, N.J., native, was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at point guard for Carril and his then-assistants, who included Carmody, current NBA assistant coach Brian Winters and current Pepperdine head coach Jan van Breda Kolff. Scott played on the Tigers' 1983-84 Ivy League championship team that earned a 65-56 victory against San Diego in the NCAA tournament's preliminary round before falling to UNLV 68-56, and he was twice an All-Ivy selection.
Scott graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1990 and worked for the law firm of Ribis, Graham & Curtin in Morristown, N.J., before entering the coaching profession. Scott participated in the storied Notre Dame Bookstore Basketball Tournament, leading his team to the championship and twice claiming MVP honors.
Scott is married to the former Leah Spraragen, a member of Princeton's Class of 1992. Mrs. Scott was a four-year starter for Princeton's women's basketball team, also as a point guard.