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Princeton University Athletics
Joe Scott Named Head Men's Basketball Coach at Princeton University
April 21, 2004 | Men's Basketball
April 21, 2004
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Joe Scott, a New Jersey native who coached the Air Force basketball team to unprecedented success after helping the Princeton basketball team to the NCAA tournament as both a player and an assistant coach, has been named head coach at Princeton, effective immediately.
Scott, 39, a 1987 Princeton graduate who spent the last four seasons as head coach at Air Force, is the school's 27th head coach of men's basketball. He replaces John Thompson '88, who became the head coach at Georgetown University April 20 after four seasons as the head coach at Princeton.
"Even more than the fact that Princeton is my alma mater and where I played basketball, it's a great University with a special basketball tradition," said Scott. "The administration made it known to me that I was the person they wanted for this job, and that made it easy for me to reach this decision."
"I am tremendously excited to announce that Joe Scott will become the next basketball coach at Princeton," said Director of Athletics Gary Walters. "Very few schools have the opportunity to appoint as their head coach an alumnus of their University who was recognized as one of the top five coaches in the country this past season. His coaching job at Air Force was simply extraordinary."
Scott's 2003-04 Air Force team fashioned the best season in school history and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 42 years before falling to North Carolina in the first round. The Falcons' 22-7 record was a program best, and the team's 12-2 Mountain West Conference (MWC) record earned Air Force its first-ever conference regular-season championship. The Falcons also earned a Top 25 ranking for the first time and led the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 50.9 points per game. Air Force also ranked among the top 20 teams in NCAA Division I in fewest turnovers per game (11.0, 5th), team field-goal percentage (48.1%, 14th) and three-point shots made per game (8.4, 17th).
Scott was named both the MWC Coach of the Year and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 13 Coach of the Year in 2003-04, and he finished fourth in the Associated Press National Coach of the Year voting. Five of his Falcon players were named to MWC all-conference teams, and the Falcons finished undefeated at home (13-0) for the first time in program history.
The Pelican Island, N.J., native had led the Falcons to a 12-16 record in 2002-03, at the time the most wins in the program's Division I history. His four-year record as head coach was 51-63.
Prior to heading to Air Force in 2000, Scott was an assistant coach at Princeton for eight seasons under Pete Carril, his college coach, and Bill Carmody. He was Carmody's top assistant from 1996-2000, when the Tigers averaged 23 wins per season. The Tigers finished 163-61 in Scott's eight seasons as an assistant coach and reached the NCAA tournament three times, reaching the second round of the tournament in both 1996 and 1998. The 1998 team finished 27-2 overall, was ranked as high as No. 7 nationally during the season and earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament, the highest seed ever for an Ivy League school. The 1996 Tigers upset defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Tigers also reached the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in both 1999, when they reached the quarterfinal round, and in 2000.
In his last five seasons as an assistant coach at Princeton, the Tigers were 37-19 against schools that offer athletic scholarships. While an assistant, he helped recruit two All-Americas, three Ivy League Players of the Year, one Ivy League Rookie of the Year and nine first-team All-Ivy selections. In addition, he coached nine players at Princeton who went on to play professional basketball.
Prior to returning to Princeton in 1992, Scott spent one season as an assistant coach at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.
As a player, Scott was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at point guard for Princeton. He earned the B.F. Bunn Trophy as the team's Most Valuable Player in 1987. A team captain his senior year, he averaged 11.9 points per game in 1986-87 and earned second-team All-Ivy honors. He was an honorable-mention All-Ivy selection as a junior. In 1983-84, as a freshman, he played on an Ivy League championship team that reached the NCAA tournament and defeated San Diego in the tournament's preliminary round before falling to UNLV.
After graduation, Scott attended law school at the University of Notre Dame, earning his J.D. degree in 1990. While at Notre Dame, Scott played in the famous Notre Dame Bookstore Basketball Tournament, leading his team to two championships and earning Most Valuable Player honors twice.
He worked for the Morristown, N.J., law firm of Ribis, Graham & Curtin before entering the coaching profession at Monmouth.
Prior to attending Princeton, Scott starred at Toms River East High School in three sports--football, basketball and baseball. He scored a school-record 1,550 points and earned first-team All-Shore and third-team all-state honors in basketball. He also was selected All-Shore in football as a quarterback and all-county in baseball as a shortstop.
Scott is married to the former Leah Spraragen, a 1992 Princeton graduate who was a four-year starter at point guard for the women's basketball team and later an assistant coach at Princeton, Dartmouth and Arizona State. The Scotts, who married in 1999, have two young sons--Ben, who will turn three in July, and Jack, who was born this past year.
Princeton finished 20-8 overall and 13-1 in Ivy League play in 2003-04, reaching the NCAA tournament for the 23rd time. The Tigers fell to Texas in the first round, 66-49, in a game that was played immediately before the Air Force-North Carolina game at Pepsi Center in Denver.
"We have a really good group of players here at Princeton," said Scott, "and now they have the experience of going to the NCAA tournament. Everything is in place for this team to be really good over the next few years, and I look forward to taking on that challenge."