John Pelphrey
John Pelphrey (born July 18, 1968)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
Current conference: Ohio Valley Conference (OVC)
South Alabama record: 80-67 (.544)
Arkansas record: 69-59 (.539)
Tennessee Tech record: 51-103 (.331)
Overall record: 200-229 (.466)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 2 (2006, 2008)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 1 (2007)
- Ohio Valley Regular Season Champion: 0
- Sun Belt Regular Season Champion: 2 (2006, 2007)
- Ohio Valley Tournament Champion: 0
- Sun Belt Tournament Champion: 1 (2006)
Awards:
- Sun Belt Coach of the Year: 1 (2006)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2019-present | Tennessee Tech |
| 2016-2019 | Alabama (assoc. HC) |
| 2011-2015 | Florida (asst) |
| 2007-2011 | Arkansas |
| 2002-2007 | South Alabama |
| 1996-2002 | Florida (asst) |
| 1994-1996 | Marshall (asst) |
| 1993-1994 | Oklahoma State (asst) |
John Pelphrey Facts
- John Leslie Pelphrey
- Born July 18, 1968
- Hometown: Paintsville, Kentucky
- Alma Mater: University of Kentucky (BA, 1992)
- After being named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball as a senior at Paintsville HS, Pelphrey played for the Kentucky Wildcats
- Played first for Eddie Sutton and then, after scandal rocked the UK program in 1989, for Rick Pitino
- Was not drafted in 1992 but played professionally for about a year in France and Spain
- Started his coaching career as one of Sutton’s assistants at Oklahoma State in 1993
- A year later, Pelphrey joined Billy Donovan‘s staff at Marshall; he followed Donovan to Florida two years later and worked there for six seasons
- Became head coach at South Alabama in 2002, leading the Jaguars to back-to-back Sun Belt titles, the 2006 NCAA Tournament and 2007 NIT
- Hired as the new head coach at Arkansas in April 2007; led the Razorbacks to the NCAA Tournament in year one but was unable to reach the postseason in any of the next three seasons
- After being fired from Arkansas, Pelphrey returned to Gainesville to work under Donovan for the next four seasons
- When Donovan left for the NBA, Pelphrey spent the following season working on television for ESPN’s SEC Network
- Returned to coaching in 2016, serving as Avery Johnson‘s associate head coach at Alabama for three seasons
- Hired in April 2019 to become the head coach at Tennessee Tech
- Won 14 games combined in his first two years but won 16 in his fourth and was one OT loss from the NCAA Tournament
- Along with his wife, Tracy, has one son and one daughter
- The couple had another son that passed away of a rare blood disorder; the Pelphreys launched the Pel’s Pals Foundation in their son’s memory
John Pelphrey Coaching Tree
- Isaac Brown (Wichita State)
- Matt Figger (Austin Peay)
- Brett Nelson (Holy Cross)