Tommy Amaker

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Tommy Amaker (born June 6, 1965 in Falls Church, Virgina) is the former head coach of the University of Michigan men's basketball team. He took the job in Michigan in 2001, after being the head coach at Seton Hall University. Prior to that, he served as an assistant coach at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski from 1988-97.^[1]

Amaker was a star point guard at Duke. As a junior in 1986, he was part of a team that finished as national runner-up in the NCAA Tournament. That year he recorded 81 steals. In his senior season, he was named the first winner of the Henry Iba Corinthian Award, given to the national defensive player of the year.^[2] Amaker also won a gold medal as a member of Team USA in the 1986 FIBA World Basketball Championship.

As a head coach, Amaker took Seton Hall to the NCAA tournament once (2000) - when his team reached the "Sweet Sixteen" (third round) - and to the National Invitation Tournament three times (1998, 1999 and 2001).

While at Seton Hall, Amaker achieved the #2 recruiting class in the Nation in 2000 by ESPN [1] .The class consisted of Eddie Griffin, (ranked by some as the top high school player in the nation [2], Andre Barrett, and Marcus Toney-El. The Pirates were ranked high on many experts pre-season rankings [3]. The following season, Amaker resigned as the Seton Hall head coach and took the vacant University of Michigan head coaching job.

At Michigan, his 2004 team won the NIT title, and his 2006 team was the NIT runner-up.

Amaker had been credited for helping to restore the ethical reputation of a Michigan program which had been tarnished by scandal^[3]. However, he had been unable to take the Wolverines to the NCAA tournament, which had caused him to draw criticism. Some fans and sportswriters argued that Amaker's teams tended to underachieve and fall apart in pressure situations, particularly at the end of the season.^[4] On March 17, 2007, Amaker was fired by the University of Michigan.^[5] Amaker will receive $900,000 to buy out the remaining years on his contract.

Amaker is rumored to be a frontrunner for the head coaching position at Harvard University.[4]

[edit] Tommy Amaker's career record

career record

School	Season	Wins	Losses	Postseason
Seton Hall	1998	14	14	National Invitation Tournament
Seton Hall	1999	16	16	NIT
Seton Hall	2000	22	10	NCAA Tournament round of 16
Seton Hall	2001	16	15	NIT
Michigan	2002	11	18
Michigan	2003	18	12	^
Michigan	2004	23	11	NIT Champions
Michigan	2005	13	18
Michigan	2006	22	11	NIT
Michigan	2007	22	13	NIT

^Team was ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions.

[edit] References

Preceded by George Blaney	Seton Hall Men's Head Basketball Coach 1997–2001	Succeeded by Louis Orr
Preceded by Brian Ellerbe	Michigan Men's Head Basketball Coach 2001–2007	Succeeded by John Beilein