Jim Christian

Jim Christian

Christian in 2019
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Canisius
Conference	MAAC
Record	2–18 (.100)
Biographical details
Born	(1965-02-06) February 6, 1965 (age 59) Bethpage, New York, U.S.
Playing career
1983–1985	Boston University
1986–1988	Rhode Island
1988–1989	Sydney City Comets
Position(s)	Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1990–1992	Western Kentucky (assistant)
1992–1994	Saint Francis (PA) (assistant)
1994–1995	Western Kentucky (assistant)
1995–1996	Miami (OH) (assistant)
1996–1999	Pittsburgh (assistant)
2001–2002	Kent State (assistant)
2002–2008	Kent State
2008–2012	TCU
2012–2014	Ohio
2014–2021	Boston College
2024–present	Canisius
Head coaching record
Overall	322–304 (.514)
Tournaments	0–2 (NCAA Division I) 0–5 (NIT) 1–1 (CBI) 2–1 (CIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2 MAC tournament (2006, 2008) 3 MAC regular season (2006, 2008, 2013) 5 MAC East Division (2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2013)
Awards
2× MAC Coach of the Year (2006, 2008)

James Patrick Christian^[1] (born February 6, 1965) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Canisius Golden Griffins. He previously served as the head coach at Boston College, Kent State, TCU and Ohio.

Christian was born in Bethpage, New York. He was an all-state guard at St. Dominic High School in nearby Oyster Bay while playing under Ralph Willard, who later was the head coach at Western Kentucky, Pittsburgh, and Holy Cross. Following his prep career, Christian was recruited by coach Rick Pitino at Boston University where he played two seasons before transferring to the University of Rhode Island. Both Willard and Pitino also attended St. Dominic High School.

Christian played his final two campaigns under Tom Penders at the University of Rhode Island, where he helped the Rams reach the Sweet Sixteen of the 1988 NCAA tournament. The former standout guard guided the Rams to victories over Missouri and Syracuse before dropping a 73–72 decision to Duke in the Sweet 16 round.

After earning his bachelor's degree in consumer affairs from the University of Rhode Island in 1988, Christian spent one season playing professionally in the Australian Basketball Association for the Sydney City Comets.

After returning to the United States, Christian became the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers' assistant coach under head coach Ralph Willard from 1990 to 1992. From there, Christian went on to assist head coaches Tom McConnell at Saint Francis University (1992–1994), Matt Kilcullen again at Western Kentucky University (1994–1995), Herb Sendek at Miami University (1995–1996), Ralph Willard at University of Pittsburgh (1996–1999), and Stan Heath at Kent State University (2001–2002).

After assisting former head coach Stan Heath in the 2001–02 season, Christian became head coach at Kent State University from 2002 to 2008, where he led the Golden Flashes to six consecutive seasons of twenty or more wins, four MAC East division titles, two overall MAC titles, and two conference tournament championships. His teams also had five post-season appearances, three in the NIT and two in the NCAA Tournament. His record at Kent State was 137–59.^[2]

At Texas Christian University, Christian took over the position vacated by Neil Dougherty in March 2008. In Christian's final year coaching the Horned Frogs, he helped the program break a seven-year losing streak and gave them a bid in the College Basketball Invitational Tournament. The squad posted an 18–15 overall record, four more wins than in any season since 2004–05, and ended with its best finish ever in the Mountain West Conference at fifth place.^[3]

On Tuesday, April 3, 2012, Christian was named the new head basketball coach at Ohio, becoming the program's 17th head coach, after former head coach John Groce left for Illinois.

In Christian's first year, the Ohio Bobcats shared the MAC regular season title with Akron with a conference record of 14–2, Ohio's first regular season title since 1994.^[4] Ohio earned themselves a No. 2 seed in the MAC tournament, where they beat Western Michigan 74–63. The following evening, Ohio lost to Akron 65–46 in the MAC Championships, losing a bid to the NCAA tournament.^[5] However, Ohio earned an at-large bid in the 2013 NIT tournament as a number 6 seed in the Alabama quadrant.^[6]

On April 3, 2014, Christian resigned his position at Ohio to become the head coach at Boston College, replacing Steve Donahue.^[7]

On April 3, 2014, Jim Christian was named the Head Coach at Boston College. Under Christian, the Eagles saw little success, winning just 6 games in conference play in his first 3 seasons. They found some success in his fourth season, going 19–16, their best record since the 2010-2011 season. They also clinched an invitation to the NIT, their first postseason appearance since they went to the NCAA Tournament in 2009. That was however, the extent of their success under coach Christian as they finished with a losing record every other season.

After starting the 2020-2021 season 3-13, Boston College fired Jim Christian as their head coach and named Scott Spinelli their interim coach. In 7+1⁄2 seasons, Jim Christian was 78-132 overall, 26-94 in conference play.

On June 21, 2022, Jim Christian returned to Kent State as the Assistant Athletic Director.

On April 8, 2024, Christian was named head coach at Canisius.^[8][9]

Christian and his wife, Patty, were married in the summer of 2005, and have three children, MacKenzie, Zach, and Jay.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jim Christian.

• Boston College profile