Jamion Christian

Jamion Christian (born April 18, 1982)^[1] is an American college basketball coach. He is the current and 22nd head coach of men’s basketball at Mount St. Mary's University.^[2] He is under contract to coach the team through the 2018–19 season.^[3]

Biography

Christian was born and raised in Quinton, Virginia. As a shooting guard, he led New Kent High School to a Virginia High School League State Championship with a 26–0 record and earned the VHSL Group A State Player of the Year honors. Christian then became a shooting guard and a three-year captain for Mount St. Mary's under head coaches Jim Phelan and Milan Brown. Christian's Father, John Christian, was a stand out track athlete at Norfolk State University.

Assistant coaching career

Christian began his coaching career as an assistant at Emory and Henry College (2004–06), Bucknell (2006–08) and then William & Mary (2008–11). While with Coach Shaver and the Tribe, Christian recruited two of the most successful players in Tribe history: Brandon Britt and Marcus Thornton.

Christian then served as an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth (2011–12) under head coach Shaka Smart, helping the Rams to the third round of the 2012 NCAA tournamentafter upsetting #5 seed Wichita State in the 2nd round. Coach Christian also helped the rams to a 2012 CAA Tournament championship and finished 2011-12 season with the most wins in school history (29).

Head coaching career

Mount St. Mary's hired Christian as head coach on March 26, 2012. Christian implemented an up-tempo offense and “mayhem” defense, comparable to VCU's "havoc" defense popularized by Shaka Smart. After his first season at the helm, Christian was named finalist for 2013 Joe B. Hall Award presented to the top first-year head coach in Division 1.

During the 2012-13 season, the Mountaineers qualified for the NEC tournament for the first time since the 2009–10 season. As a No. 5 seed, Mount St. Mary's upset Bryant and Robert Morris, but lost to Long Island University in the championship game.^[4] During the 2013-14 season, the Mountaineers won the NEC tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Won the 2014 NEC Tournament and received automatic bid to NCAA Tournament – program’s first since 2008.

Coach Christian was also responsible for overseeing development of Rashad Whack (2014 NEC Tournament MVP and 2nd Team All-NEC; 2013 NEC All-Tournament Team), Julian Norfleet (2014 NEC All-Tournament Team and 2nd Team All-NEC), Sam Prescott (2014 NEC All-Tournament Team) and Shivaughn Wiggins (2013 NEC Rookie of the Year and CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Freshman of the Year).

Head coaching record

References