In heartbreaking news out of Tampa, USF head men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim has passed away at the age of 43. The school announced that Abdur-Rahim passed on Thursday from complications that arose during a medical procedure.
Hired in 2023 after a successful tenure at Kennesaw State, Abdur-Rahim won 25 games in his first season with the Bulls – the program’s most wins ever in a single season. The team won their first conference regular season title since 2000 and Abdur-Rahim was named AAC COY. The year prior, he was ASUN COY after taking the KSU Owls to the NCAA Tournament for the first time and winning the first ASUN Regular Season and ASUN Tournament titles in program history.
“In a very short time, Coach Abdur-Rahim made an indelible impact on the University of South Florida. In his first season as our head coach, he brought an unmatched enthusiasm, achieved unprecedented success and helped generate unforgettable memories for Bulls Nation,” said USF President Rhea Law. “Throughout my time working with Coach Abdur-Rahim, I was continually inspired by his leadership, and truly admired his sincere approach to connecting with our entire student body. His influence on our student-athletes, coaching staff and the university community will live on forever.”
Coach Abdur-Rahim was a rising star in the college basketball world, parlaying his success at Kennesaw into the bigger South Florida job and making an immediate impact there. Originally from Atlanta, Abdur-Rahim has 12 siblings – one of whom is former NBA player Shareef Abdur-Rahim – and played collegiately for Billy Kennedy at Southeastern Louisiana. He started his coaching career working under Kennedy at Murray State for five seasons, then had stints at Georgia Tech and Charleston before re-uniting with Kennedy again in 2014 at Texas A&M. His most recent assistant stop before getting the Kennesaw State job in 2019 was working under Tom Crean at Georgia.
credit to South Florida Athletics for the image
