Mike Young enters his 15th season as head coach and 28th season on the Wofford men's basketball staff in 2016-17. He has built the Wofford College men's basketball program into a Southern Conference powerhouse and NCAA Tournament fixture.
With Southern Conference Tournament Championships in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015, Wofford is one of 43 programs nationally to have reached the NCAA Tournament at least four times in the six-year span from 2010-15. The Terriers are also one of just four programs to win their conference tournament in four of those six seasons. Young's teams have totaled five postseason appearances and four 20-win campaigns in that span.
In his 14-year head coaching career at Wofford, Young boasts a record of 232-209 (.526), including 136-109 (.555) in Southern Conference play. Young's 232 wins rank fourth in Southern Conference history, as well as third in school history. Young, current Director of Athletics Richard Johnson (236) and the late Gene Alexander (283) are the only coaches in Wofford history to record over 200 wins.
Young’s first postseason team, in 2009-10, tied a school record with a 13-game winning streak. It was part of a stretch that saw the Terriers win 22 of 24 games en route to what was then a school-record 26 victories, including a 15-3 mark in league play. The Terriers won the SoCon South Division title and the tournament championship for the first time. Wofford came back the next season with a share of the SoCon South Division title and another conference tournament championship.
In his 14-year head coaching career at Wofford, Young boasts a record of 232-209 (.526), including 136-109 (.555) in Southern Conference play. Young's 232 wins rank fourth in Southern Conference history, as well as third in school history. Young, current Director of Athletics Richard Johnson (236) and the late Gene Alexander (283) are the only coaches in Wofford history to record over 200 wins.
A three-time SoCon Coach of the Year (2010, 2014, 2015), Young has also received national recognition as the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com. During his distinguished tenure, Young has seen many Terriers go on to play professionally. He has coached Olympian Mike Lenzly, All-American Noah Dahlman, and Academic All-American Brad Loesing. Through Young's head-coaching tenure, Wofford has accumulated 13 All-Southern Conference selections by the coaches and another 25 from the media.
Under Young’s leadership, the Terriers' resume includes impressive non-conference wins over the likes of Auburn, Cincinnati, Clemson, Georgia, North Carolina State, Purdue, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Xavier and Wake Forest. Young believes in playing the best competition. A recent Wofford non-conference schedule was ranked as the most difficult in the nation by the RPI and Sagarin Ratings.
The success Young has achieved on the court has complemented his emphasis on academics. Young’s program has a 100-percent graduation rate for student-athletes who have completed their eligibility at Wofford.
One of the defining characteristics of Young’s program is the family atmosphere, evidenced by current assistant coaches Tim Johnson and Kevin Giltner both of whom wore the Terrier uniform. Director of Basketball Operations, Drew Gibson, is also a former Wofford student-athlete. Young has seen a total of six players remain in the program, after their playing days, as members of his staff.
The last seven seasons have seen Wofford emerge as a dominant program in the Southern Conference. This 2014-15 campaign was the best yet. The Terriers went 28-7 overall, 16-2 SoCon, en route to an outright Southern Conference Regular Season Championship, fourth SoCon Tournament Championship and fourth NCAA Tournament appearance. New program records for wins and conference wins were set, with a schedule that ranked 26th in the country in non-conference strength. The non-conference slate saw the Terriers make trips to Stanford, as well as three 2015 NCAA Sweet 16 teams in West Virginia, Duke and NC State. Wofford took a 55-54 win over the Wolfpack on December 14, 2014, which was NC State's first loss in their historic home of Reynolds Coliseum since the 1999 NIT. The Terriers won eight straight games en route to the SoCon Tournament title, including victories in 14 of their last 15 games. Young was named SoCon Coach of the Year for a third time and saw senior Karl Cochran named SoCon Player of the Year. Senior Lee Skinner was also an all-conference selection and named SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Wofford earned its highest seed in school history in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, going to Jacksonville, Florida as the No. 12 seed in the West Region to take on No. 5 seed Arkansas. The Terriers led 28-27 at the half, outrebounded Arkansas 37-35 and led for over half the game before the Razorbacks edged out the Terriers, 56-53. In the season's final RPI posted by the NCAA, the Terriers checked in at No. 49.The success Young has achieved on the court has complemented his emphasis on academics. Young’s program has a 100-percent graduation rate for student-athletes who have completed their eligibility at Wofford.
One of the defining characteristics of Young’s program is the family atmosphere, evidenced by current assistant coaches Tim Johnson and Kevin Giltner both of whom wore the Terrier uniform. Director of Basketball Operations, Drew Gibson, is also a former Wofford student-athlete. Young has seen a total of six players remain in the program, after their playing days, as members of his staff.
Young’s first postseason team, in 2009-10, tied a school record with a 13-game winning streak. It was part of a stretch that saw the Terriers win 22 of 24 games en route to what was then a school-record 26 victories, including a 15-3 mark in league play. The Terriers won the SoCon South Division title and the tournament championship for the first time. Wofford came back the next season with a share of the SoCon South Division title and another conference tournament championship.
Young’s time at Wofford has spanned four decades and covered the Terriers moving from NCAA Division II to Division I Independent in 1995-96 and to the Southern Conference in 1997-98. He was promoted to associate head coach in August 1998. Young has been on the Wofford bench for 798 contests over the past 27 seasons.
Prior to assuming the head coaching reins at Wofford, Young was an assistant coach to current athletics director Richard Johnson. His impact as a head coach was seen immediately. In his first season in charge, Young led the Terriers to their best record in eight seasons at the Division I level and a third-place finish in the SoCon South Division after Wofford was predicted to finish sixth.
Prior to assuming the head coaching reins at Wofford, Young was an assistant coach to current athletics director Richard Johnson. His impact as a head coach was seen immediately. In his first season in charge, Young led the Terriers to their best record in eight seasons at the Division I level and a third-place finish in the SoCon South Division after Wofford was predicted to finish sixth.
It’s all about the student-athlete experience for Young. Every player means the world to him, and it’s not just those 16 All-SoCon selections (Mike Lenzly, Noah Dahlman, Tim Johnson, Brad Loesing, Kevin Giltner, Tyler Berg, Ian Chadwick, Lee Nixon, Howard Wilkerson, Drew Gibson, Junior Salters, Cameron Rundles, Jamar Diggs, Karl Cochran, Lee Skinner and Spencer Collins). Chadwick (2000-01) Dahlman (2010-11), and Cochran (2014-15) have been SoCon Players of the Year, while Dahlman was the SoCon Tournament’s Most Outstanding Performer in back-to-back seasons (2010, 2011).
Young’s influence on incoming players has been seen with eight Terriers appearing on the All-SoCon Freshman Team (Ian Chadwick, Tyler Berg, Brad Loesing, Karl Cochran, Justin Stephens, Spencer Collins, Eric Garcia and Fletcher Magee). Chadwick (1997-98), Cochran (2011-12) and Magee (2015-16) were named SoCon Freshmen of the Year. Magee led the nation in free throw percentage (92.5 pct.) as a freshman, setting the program's new single-season record and becoming just the sixth freshman to shoot 90-percent or better in NCAA men's Div. I history (min 2.5 makes per game). Magee's freshman season also saw him rank third nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (47.9 pct.).
In 2012, each of our the program's five graduates (Drew Crowell, Kevin Giltner, Brad Loesing, Joseph Tecklenberg and Matt Steelman) were named to the Southern Conference All-Academic Team.
In 2012, each of our the program's five graduates (Drew Crowell, Kevin Giltner, Brad Loesing, Joseph Tecklenberg and Matt Steelman) were named to the Southern Conference All-Academic Team.
A native of Radford, Va., Young came to Wofford after serving as a graduate assistant for one year under Oliver Purnell at Radford University. A 1986 graduate of Emory & Henry College, he was a four-year letterman in basketball for coach Bob Johnson and the team captain his junior and senior seasons. He credits Johnson for having a major influence on his playing and coaching careers.
Upon his graduation, Young became a full-time assistant coach for two years at Emory & Henry before moving on to Radford. Another mentor in his coaching philosophies is Fletcher Arritt, longtime coach of Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy. Young played one season for him before attending Emory and Henry.
Young and his wife, Margaret, were married on Aug. 13, 1994 in her hometown of Camden, S.C. She is a 1992 Wofford graduate and a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The couple has a daughter, Cooper, and a son, Davis.
Upon his graduation, Young became a full-time assistant coach for two years at Emory & Henry before moving on to Radford. Another mentor in his coaching philosophies is Fletcher Arritt, longtime coach of Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy. Young played one season for him before attending Emory and Henry.
Young and his wife, Margaret, were married on Aug. 13, 1994 in her hometown of Camden, S.C. She is a 1992 Wofford graduate and a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The couple has a daughter, Cooper, and a son, Davis.
Sessions in which Mike Young participates
10:00 AM
10:00 AM
- PDS Ethics Clinic: NCAA Ethics Coalition Panel Discussion
- 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM | 45 minutes
- The panelists will discuss ethical issues they have encountered while coaching, offer insight to their best practices and illustrate how to build a...
- Panel