 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Jim Molinari" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Assistant coach |
| Team | Boston College |
| Conference | ACC |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | (1954-12-26)December 26, 1954 (age 70) |
| Playing career | |
| 1973–1975 | Kansas State |
| 1975–1977 | Illinois Wesleyan |
| Position | Point guard |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1979–1989 | DePaul (assistant) |
| 1989–1991 | Northern Illinois |
| 1991–2002 | Bradley |
| 2004–2006 | Minnesota (assistant) |
| 2006–2007 | Minnesota (interim HC) |
| 2007–2008 | Ball State (assistant) |
| 2008–2014 | Western Illinois |
| 2014–2019 | Nebraska (assistant) |
| 2019–2021 | Oklahoma (assistant) |
| 2021–present | Boston College (assistant) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 302–290 (.510) |
| Tournaments | 0–2 (NCAA Division I) 4–5 (NIT) 0–2 (CBI) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 2MCC/Summit League regular season (1991, 2013) MVC regular season (1996) | |
| Awards | |
| 2xMCC/Summit League Coach of the Year (1991, 2013) MVC Coach of the Year (1996) | |
James R. Molinari (born December 26, 1954) is an Americanbasketball coach. Molinari is an assistant coach atBoston College. Prior to his stint at Boston College, Molinari was an assistant coach atOklahoma from 2019 to 2021. He formerly served as an assistant coach atNebraska[1] and as former head coach of theWestern Illinois UniversityLeathernecks, where he served from 2008 to 2014. Prior to being named coach at WIU, Molinari was as assistant coach atBall State University after serving as the interim head coach at theUniversity of Minnesota, replacingDan Monson on November 30, 2006, and being succeeded byTubby Smith on March 22, 2007.[2] Previously, he served as head men's basketball coach atNorthern Illinois University andBradley University. He also was a scout for theToronto Raptors andMiami Heat.
Molinari graduated fromGlenbard West High School, where he starred on itsvarsity boys' basketball team.[3] He first attendedKansas State University from 1973 to 1975,lettering twice withJack Hartman'sWildcats. A 6'1" (1.85meters)guard who wore uniform number 30, he appeared in 22 games, including a 95–87 defeat toSyracuse in theNCAA East Regional Final at theProvidence Civic Center on March 22, 1975.[4] He transferred toIllinois Wesleyan University for his last two undergraduate years. A reserve who averaged 9.1 points per game, he was a teammate ofJack Sikma in both seasons.[5][6][7] He earned aBachelor of Arts in English in 1977.[8]
Molinari graduated from theDePaul University College of Law, earning hisjuris doctor in 1980.[9] He passed theBar Exam.[9] Molinari spent eleven seasons as an assistant coach for bothRay andJoey Meyer atDePaul University.
His first head coaching assignment began on April 28, 1989, when he replacedJim Rosborough atNorthern Illinois University (NIU).[10] A combined 42–17 in his two seasons at NIU, theHuskies finished the1990–91 campaign with the second-best team defense in the nation which allowed 57.5 points a game, a program-best 25–6 record and an at-large bid to theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.[11]
He succeededStan Albeck in a similar capacity atBradley University on April 12, 1991. He inherited a program which had at least 20 losses in each of the previous two years.[11] After going a combined 18–39 in Molinari's first two seasons at Bradley, theBraves had at least 20 wins in each of the three subsequent years. His most successful campaign was 1995–96 when he was named theMissouri Valley Conference (MVC) Coach of the Year and the Braves earned an at-large bid to theNCAA tournament. He had a 174–152 record in eleven seasons at Bradley which also included fiveNational Invitation Tournament (NIT) appearances in1994,1995,1997,1999 and2001. Despite having the longest tenure among MVC men's basketball head coaches at the time, he was fired on March 5, 2002, after a 9–20 finish. The dismissal was driven by David Broski's dissatisfaction over the Braves' 42–48 record during the three years he had been university president at that point.[12] Molinari was replaced byJim Les a month later on April 7.[13]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Illinois Huskies(NCAA Division I Independent)(1989–1990) | |||||||||
| 1989–90 | Northern Illinois | 17–11 | |||||||
| Northern Illinois Huskies(Mid-Continent Conference)(1990–1991) | |||||||||
| 1990–91 | Northern Illinois | 25–6 | 14–2 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| Northern Illinois: | 42–17 (.712) | 14–2 (.875) | |||||||
| Bradley Braves(Missouri Valley Conference)(1991–2002) | |||||||||
| 1991–92 | Bradley | 7–23 | 3–15 | 9th | |||||
| 1992–93 | Bradley | 11–16 | 7–11 | 7th | |||||
| 1993–94 | Bradley | 23–8 | 14–4 | 2nd | NIT Quarterfinal | ||||
| 1994–95 | Bradley | 20–10 | 12–6 | 4th | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 1995–96 | Bradley | 22–8 | 15–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 1996–97 | Bradley | 17–13 | 12–6 | 2nd | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 1997–98 | Bradley | 15–14 | 9–9 | 5th | |||||
| 1998–99 | Bradley | 17–12 | 11–7 | 2nd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 1999–00 | Bradley | 14–16 | 10–8 | 5th | |||||
| 2000–01 | Bradley | 19–12 | 12–6 | 2nd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 2001–02 | Bradley | 9–20 | 5–13 | 8th | |||||
| Bradley: | 174–152 (.534) | 110–88 (.556) | |||||||
| Minnesota Golden Gophers(Big Ten Conference)(2006–2007) | |||||||||
| 2006–07 | Minnesota | 7–17[n 1] | 3–13 | 9th | |||||
| Minnesota: | 7–17 (.292) | 3–13 (.188) | |||||||
| Western Illinois Leathernecks(Summit League)(2008–2014) | |||||||||
| 2008–09 | Western Illinois | 9–20 | 6–12 | T–8th | |||||
| 2009–10 | Western Illinois | 13–17 | 6–12 | T–7th | |||||
| 2010–11 | Western Illinois | 7–23 | 2–16 | 9th | |||||
| 2011–12 | Western Illinois | 18–15 | 9–9 | T–4th | CBI First Round | ||||
| 2012–13 | Western Illinois | 22–7 | 13–3 | T–1st | CBI First Round | ||||
| 2013–14 | Western Illinois | 10–20 | 4–10 | 7th | |||||
| Western Illinois: | 79–104 (.432) | 40–62 (.392) | |||||||
| Total: | 302–290 (.510) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||