 Amaker in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Current position | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Head coach | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Harvard | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Conference | Ivy League | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Record | 293–183 (.616) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Biographical details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | June 6, 1965 Falls Church, Virginia, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1987 | Duke | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Point guard | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1988–1997 | Duke (assistant) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997–2001 | Seton Hall | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2007 | Michigan | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–present | Harvard | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall | 469–322 (.593) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tournaments | 4–5 (NCAA Division I) 11–8 (NIT) 0–1 (CIT) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Accomplishments and honors | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||
| NIT (2004) 7 Ivy League Regular Season (2011–2015, 2018, 2019) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Records | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Harold Tommy Amaker Jr. (/ˈæməkər/; born June 6, 1965) is an American college basketball coach and the head coach of the Harvard University men's basketball team. He has also coached for the University of Michigan and Seton Hall University. He played point guard and later served as an assistant coach at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski. An All-American player, Amaker set numerous records and earned many honors and awards. He took Seton Hall to the post season in each of his four seasons as their coach, helped Michigan win the National Invitation Tournament the year after a probationary ban from postseason play, and had the three highest single-season win totals in the history of Harvard basketball, the school's first six Ivy League championships and first NCAA tournament victory.
Amaker was a high school basketball star at Wilbert Tucker Woodson High School from 1979 to 1983 under coach Paul (Red) Jenkins. Amaker led the Woodson Cavaliers to four straight Northern District titles, including victories over the national powerhouse DeMatha Catholic High School. A McDonald's All-American, Amaker also earned the Wooden Defensive Player of the Year award in 1983, awarded to the nation's best high school defensive player. He averaged almost 18 points, and contributed 7.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game while at Woodson. In December 1992, the Connection named Amaker to the Connection Dream Team, as a point guard.McDonald's All-American and a Parade All-American. As a college basketball player, he set most of the assists records and many steals records for Duke basketball. He also set the Atlantic Coast Conference single-season games played and games started records. Among his numerous accolades, he was the first winner of the NABC Defensive Player of the Year, and he was a third team All-American.
Amaker was an assistant coach for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball under Krzyzewski for nine seasons. His first four seasons were part of a five-year streak of Final Four appearances by Duke (including back-to-back national championships). As a head coach, Amaker took the Seton Hall Pirates to postseason tournaments (NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament – 2000 and National Invitation Tournament – 1998, 1999, and 2001) in each of his four seasons as their coach. Assistant coach, Jason Lampa, credits the success that Amaker experienced at Seton Hall to his calm demeanor and respect for players. He dealt with the turmoil and self-imposed sanctions of the University of Michigan basketball scandal in his first years with Michigan, where he eventually won the 2004 National Invitation Tournament with the 2003–04 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team and finished as the runner-up with Michigan in the 2006 National Invitation Tournament.
In his tenure as Harvard men's basketball coach, he was the first coach to lead the Crimson to victory over a ranked opponent with the school. He also coached the 2009–10 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team into the postseason (2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament) in his third year there, which included the highest single-season victory total (21) in school history. In the summer of 2010, the NCAA ruled that Amaker had committed a recruiting violation, resulting in NCAA-mandated recruiting restrictions, the university's first NCAA penalty of the men's basketball program. The 2010–11 team became the first Harvard men's basketball team to clinch a share of the Ivy League championship and surpassed the prior season win total (23). The 2011–12 team became the first in school history to appear in the Associated Press (AP) and Coaches Polls and, for the third year in a row, established a new school record for wins (26).[1] Amaker's 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 and 2014–15 teams repeated as Ivy League champions. The 2012–13 team gave Harvard its first NCAA tournament victory. The 2013–14 team posted a record 27 wins. Amaker became the winningest coach in school history in 2016.