Ray Harper (basketball)

Ray Harper
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamJacksonville State
ConferenceC-USA
Record146–111 (.568)
Biographical details
Born (1961-10-11) October 11, 1961 (age 63)
Bremen, Kentucky, U.S.
Playing career
1980–1982Texas
1983–1985Kentucky Wesleyan
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1985–1989Kentucky Wesleyan (assistant)[1]
1989–1996Kentucky Wesleyan (assoc. HC)[1]
1996–2005Kentucky Wesleyan
2005–2008Oklahoma City
2009–2012Western Kentucky (assistant)
2012–2016Western Kentucky
2016–presentJacksonville State
Head coaching record
Overall482–221 (.686) (NCAA)
95–17 (.848) (NAIA)
Tournaments1–4 (NCAA Division I)
27–5* (NCAA Division II)
14–1 (NAIA)
2–1 (CBI)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2 NCAA Division II tournament (1999, 2001)
2 NAIA Men's Division I Tournament (2007, 2008)
2 Sun Belt tournament (2012, 2013)
OVC tournament (2017)
ASUN West Division (2022)
ASUN regular season (2022)
Awards
7× Division II National Coach of the Year
ASUN Coach of the Year (2022)

Lilburn Ray Harper Jr. (born October 11, 1961)[1][2] is an American college basketball coach, currently head coach for Jacksonville State University. Previously, he was head coach at Oklahoma City University, Kentucky Wesleyan College, and Western Kentucky University. At Kentucky Wesleyan Harper compiled a 242–45 win–loss record.

He has been named the Division II National Coach of the Year seven times and won two national titles at Kentucky Wesleyan in 1999 and 2001.[3]

Harper was named interim head coach at Western Kentucky on January 6, 2012, after Ken McDonald was fired.[4] He was named permanent head coach on February 19, 2012, by then-athletic director Ross Bjork.[5] He resigned from the position on March 17, 2016, following the permanent suspension of three of his players.[6] Harper was subsequently hired at Jacksonville State on April 6, 2016,[7] where he took the 2016–17 team to the school's first NCAA appearance.

Born in Greenville, Kentucky and a native of Bremen, Kentucky, Harper played collegiately at the University of Texas[3] as a freshman and at Kentucky Wesleyan, during his sophomore-senior seasons, where he was named third team NABC All-American as a senior in 1985.

He is married to Shannon Harper,[8] a WKU alumna.

  1. ^ a b c "USA Basketball: Ray Harper Bio". USA Basketball. May 7, 2003. Archived from the original on December 30, 2006. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
  2. ^ West, Gary P. (February 20, 2013). "King of the Hill". Kentucky Monthly. Archived from the original on July 15, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Ray Harper Bio". Oklahoma City University. 2006. Archived from the original on March 25, 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
  4. ^ Western Kentucky Hilltoppers fire Ken McDonald – ESPN
  5. ^ Western Kentucky Hilltoppers remove interim tag from coach Ray Harper – ESPN
  6. ^ "WKU's Ray Harper resigns following suspension of three players after university disciplinary hearing". March 18, 2016.
  7. ^ "Gamecocks Tab Ray Harper Next Men's Basketball Head Coach". jsugamecocksports.com. Jacksonville State Gamecocks. April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)