Jamion Christian
Current position | |
---|---|
Title | Head coach |
Team | Siena |
Conference | NEC |
Record | 0-0 (–) |
Biographical details | |
Born | Quinton, Virginia | April 18, 1982
Playing career | |
2000–2003 | Mount St. Mary’s |
Position(s) | Guard |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
2004–2006 | Emory and Henry (asst.) |
2006–2008 | Bucknell (operations) |
2008–2011 | William & Mary (asst.) |
2011–2012 | VCU (asst.) |
2012–2018 | Mount St. Mary’s |
2018-present | Siena |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 0-0 (–) |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
2× NEC Tournament championships (2014, 2017) NEC regular season championship (2017) | |
Awards | |
NEC Coach of the Year (2017) Ben Jobe Award (2017) | |
Jamion Christian (born April 18, 1982)[1] is an American college basketball coach. He is the current and head coach of men’s basketball at Siena College. Christian was introduced as the 17th head coach in Siena basketball history on May 2, 2018.
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 Virginia 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 tournament after 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.[2] During the 2013-14 season, the Mountaineers won the NEC tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first appearance 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
Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers (Northeast Conference) (2012–2018) | |||||||||
2012–13 | Mount St. Mary's | 18–14 | 11–7 | T–5th | |||||
2013–14 | Mount St. Mary's | 16–17 | 9–7 | 4th | NCAA First Four | ||||
2014–15 | Mount St. Mary's | 15–15 | 11–7 | 4th | |||||
2015–16 | Mount St. Mary's | 14–19 | 10–8 | 5th | |||||
2016–17 | Mount St. Mary's | 20–16 | 14–4 | 1st | NCAA First Round | ||||
2017–18 | Mount St. Mary's | 18–14 | 12–6 | T–2nd | |||||
Mount St. Mary's: | 101–95 (.515) | 67–39 (.632) | |||||||
Total: | 101–95 (.515) | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
|
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| name = Siena | conference = Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference | startyear = 2018 | endyear =
}}{CBB Yearly Record Entry
| championship = | season = 2018–19 | name = Siena | overall = | conference = | confstanding = | postseason =
Personal life and family
Jamion is engaged to Allie Vadas, former Division I softball player at Mount St. Mary's University.