 Paulus with Duke in 2009 | |
| Niagara Purple Eagles | |
|---|---|
| Position | Head coach |
| League | Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1986-07-03)July 3, 1986 (age 38) Medina, Ohio, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Christian Brothers Academy (DeWitt, New York) |
| College | Duke (2005–2009) |
| Position | Point guard |
| Number | 3, 2 |
| Coaching career | 2010–present |
| Career history | |
| As coach: | |
| 2010–2011 | Navy (assistant) |
| 2011–2017 | Ohio State (assistant) |
| 2017–2018 | Louisville (assistant) |
| 2018–2019 | George Washington (assistant) |
| 2019–present | Niagara |
| Career highlights and awards | |
As player:
| |
Gregory Russell Paulus (born July 3, 1986) is an Americanbasketball coach and former player who is the head coach of theNiagara Purple Eagles men's basketball team. He previously served as an assistant basketball coach forLouisville,Ohio State andGeorge Washington University. Paulus is a former multi-sport athlete, playingcollege basketball as apoint guard on theDuke University men'steam and laterfootball atSyracuse University.
Greg Paulus was born inMedina, Ohio, and grew up inAppleton, Wisconsin, before moving to theSyracuse suburb ofManlius, New York. He has six siblings: David, Matt, Dan, Chris, Mike and Sarah. He was named Gatorade Athlete of the Year due to his accomplishments in football and basketball. Paulus was the quarterback of the 2004Christian Brothers Academy football team, which won the New York State Championship by defeatingNew Rochelle High School and futureNFL playerRay Rice 41–35 in the title game at theCarrier Dome in Syracuse. Paulus was also namedNew York State Mr. Basketball following his senior season at CBA. He was ranked as the number one recruit out of high school.
Paulus received scholarship offers to play football at theUniversity of Miami andNotre Dame.[1] He also received basketball scholarship offers from Duke,Syracuse,Georgetown,Florida andNorth Carolina.[2] He chose to play basketball and joined Duke.
Paulus was a member of the Duke team that finished with a 32–4 record and won theAtlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular-season and tournament championship. Paulus led the ACC in assists per game at 5.2. He set a Duke freshman record for assists in a game with 15 (with three turnovers) in a 104–77 home victory overValparaiso on December 18, 2005; that assist total was only one away from the all-time single-game Duke record of 16, set by NCAA career assist leaderBobby Hurley. He was selected for the All-America freshman 2nd team.
His 187 assists ranked third behind Bobby Hurley (288 in 1990) andJay Williams (220 in 2000) among the freshman assist leaders in Duke history.[3]
Paulus injured his foot during the preseason. After the season, associate coachChris Collins said Paulus struggled because he had atarsal coalition, and it was corrected through surgery. He had a career high with 25 points againstVirginia Commonwealth on March 15, 2007.
Paulus led Duke to a 28–6 record including an 89–78 victory over rivalUNC in which Paulus led Duke in scoring with 18 points. He led the Atlantic Coast Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio during the2007–08 season and shot over 42 percent from beyond the arc on his way to making 82 three-point field goals.
After being the starting point guard for three years, Paulus started only five games during his senior season. Paulus averaged 16 minutes a game, in part due to the development of sophomore guardNolan Smith.[4]
Paulus announced on May 14, 2009, that he would playcollege football atSyracuse University. Paulus was named the startingquarterback for the2009 season.[5]
He won four games and lost eight during his lone season at Syracuse, completing 67.7 percent of his passes and throwing for 2,025 yards and 13 touchdowns, and threw a school- and Big East-record five interceptions in one game against South Florida.[6]
Paulus tried out with theNFL'sNew Orleans Saints in May 2010. Contrary to initial reports, he was not offered a contract.[7] He got another shot with the Saints in June 2010 when he was again invited to minicamp.
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 | Duke | 36 | 33 | 32.3 | .373 | .314 | .784 | 2.8 | 5.2 | 1.6 | – | 6.7 |
| 2006–07 | Duke | 33 | 29 | 32.4 | .456 | .450 | .753 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 1.2 | .1 | 11.8 |
| 2007–08 | Duke | 34 | 33 | 27.7 | .423 | .423 | .827 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 1.5 | .1 | 11.4 |
| 2008–09 | Duke | 36 | 5 | 16.1 | .373 | .336 | .692 | 1.3 | 1.3 | .8 | .0 | 4.9 |
| Career | 139 | 100 | 27.0 | .415 | .398 | .775 | 2.1 | 3.4 | 1.2 | .0 | 8.6 | |
| Season | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2009 | Syracuse | 12 | 12 | 4−8 | 193 | 285 | 67.7 | 2,024 | 7.1 | 13 | 14 | 132.6 | 51 | -12 | -0.2 | 1 |
Paulus was hired as an assistant basketball coach atNavy in August 2010.[8]
Paulus was hired as the basketball video coordinator for Ohio State University in May 2011.[9] Paulus was promoted to assistant coach for Ohio State University in the summer of 2013.[10]
In the fall of 2017, Paulus left Ohio State and was hired to be an assistant coach for theLouisville Cardinals under interim head coachDavid Padgett.[11] Paulus was not retained for assistant under new Louisville head coachChris Mack following the end of the season.
Paulus was then hired as an assistant coach for theGeorge Washington Colonials men's basketball for the 2018–19 season[12] and following this season, he returned toNew York State and joined theNiagara Purple Eagles men's basketball team to be an assistant coach onPatrick Beilein's staff.[13] On October 24, 2019, Paulus was named Niagara's interim head coach after Beilein resigned for "personal reasons".[14] It was later announced that Paulus would become the permanent head coach.[15]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara Purple Eagles(Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)(2019–present) | |||||||||
| 2019–20 | Niagara | 12–20 | 9–11 | T–6th | |||||
| 2020–21 | Niagara | 9–11 | 7–9 | 5th | |||||
| 2021–22 | Niagara | 14–16 | 9–11 | 5th | |||||
| 2022–23 | Niagara | 16–15 | 10–10 | T–5th | |||||
| 2023–24 | Niagara | 16–16 | 11–9 | 6th | |||||
| 2024–25 | Niagara | 11–20 | 6–14 | 12th | |||||
| Niagara: | 78–98 (.443) | 52–63 (.452) | |||||||
| Total: | 78–98 (.443) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
Awards are for basketball unless otherwise noted.
