Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Herb Magee has been the face of the university’s men’s basketball program for 61 years, first as a student-athlete and then as a coach. In his storied career at the intersection of Henry Avenue and School House Lane, Magee has led the program to national prominence and a mainstay as an East Region power.

On July 1, 2017, Philadelphia University integrated with Thomas Jefferson University to become Jefferson. After 50 years as the coach for Philadelphia, Coach Magee began a new chapter with a new team name but the same history and foundation.

As he goes into his 53rd season as the Rams’ head coach, Magee has amassed 1,096 career victories—which ranks first in NCAA Division II men’s basketball and second across all three divisions—and led his teams to 30 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Rams have recorded 36 20+-win seasons and 11 25+-win seasons—including a school-record 30 victories during the 1992-93 campaign. Magee’s teams have been over .500 for 22 straight seasons.

Magee is just one of three coaches in NCAA men’s basketball history to record 1,000 career victories, accomplishing the feat on Feb. 7, 2015 with an 80-60 victory over Post University. He became the fourth men’s basketball coach in NCAA history to coach 50 years, and the third to do it at one school (Jim Smith – 51 – Saint John’s (Minn.), Harry Statham – 50 – McKendree).

His coaching has produced 12 All-Americans, 46 1,000-point scorers and three 2,000-point scorers. In 2007, Christian Burns was selected as the Daktronics NCAA Division II Player of the Year. Since the school joined the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, Magee has had 14 different players named to the CACC Winter All-Academic Team, including three-time honoree Peter Alexis. Al Angelos (1980) and Alexis (2015, 2016) were selected as College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-Americans.