Tommy Amaker - Coaching Career - Harvard

Harvard

Following the 2006–07 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Harvard had endured five consecutive non-winning seasons, a streak that Amaker would not hault until his third year. On April 11, 2007, Amaker was named head men's basketball coach at Harvard University. Amaker became the only African American among Harvard's 32 head coaches. Harvard's recruiting process included interviewing with the underclassmen on the team who felt Amaker was a preferred choice to the competition that included Mike Jarvis and Mike Gillian. Amaker's Harvard team beat his former team, Michigan, in just his eighth game as coach at Harvard during the 2007–08 season. It was the school's first win ever against a BCS school.

The New York Times published an accusatory article in March 2008, raising allegations of diminished academic standards among Amaker’s first class of recruits and, more seriously, potentially improper recruiting practices. Prodded by this negative publicity, the Ivy League office conducted a four-month investigation and “determined that no violations of NCAA or Ivy League rules occurred,” clearing Amaker and his staff completely. Typically, the NCAA would accept the results of a formal investigation performed by a conference office but, in this case, the NCAA initially tabled and then eventually rejected the Ivy League’s findings completely. The NCAA commenced its own investigation which ultimately took two years to complete. In the summer of 2010, the NCAA informed Harvard that Amaker’s behavior did in fact constitute impermissible recruiting behavior. Harvard and the NCAA negotiated a settlement in which the university would “declare” what the NCAA consented to classify as secondary violations. Under the terms of the agreement, Harvard accepted recruiting restrictions for the 2010-11 season as a penalty. These were the first NCAA penalties ever assessed against the Harvard men’s basketball program and also the first instance of the Ivy League being overruled on a formal rules interpretation.

On January 7, 2009, Amaker's Harvard squad defeated then-ranked Boston College (#17 AP Poll/#24 Coaches' Poll) for the first win over a ranked team in the program's history. That year, his 2008–09 recruiting class was initially the first Ivy League class to be ranked in the top 25 by ESPN.

The following season, after coaching Harvard to its winningest season ever behind the play of Jeremy Lin, the 2009–10 team was invited to participate in the 2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The team was defeated in the first round by Appalachian State. During the season, Harvard had won its rematch with Boston College. They also played #14 ranked Connecticut very tough behind 30 points and 9 rebounds from Lin. Although they only held the lead once, they were within 4 points in the final seconds of the game. That season, Amaker was a nominee for the inaugural Ben Jobe Award as the top minority Division I college basketball coach. That season, he was recognized by Fox Sports as the 2010 Ivy League Coach of the Year. Amaker was mentioned for the 2010 head coach opening at St. John's.

Amaker led the 2010-11 team team to a share of the 2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball season championship, which was school's first men's basketball Ivy League Championship since the league was formed during the 1956–57 season. Harvard finished the season a perfect 14–0 at home, which surpassed the prior season's school record of eleven home wins. The team's 12 conference game wins established a school record. The team's victory over Colorado was the team's first ever against a Big 12 Conference opponent since that conference commenced play in 1996. His fourth season also marked the fourth straight season that the team defeated at least one power conference opponent. Although Harvard never appeared in the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings, for a few weeks during the season they received a vote in the AP Poll. On March 7, Harvard received a vote in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. By finishing as Ivy League Co-champion, they faced Princeton in a one-game playoff and lost by a 63–62 margin. Princeton earned the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament automatic bid. Harvard earned an automatic bid to the 2011 National Invitation Tournament. On March 15, Harvard was defeated by Oklahoma State by a 71–54 margin in the first round. It was the school's first appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. The final record of 23–7 established a school record for number of wins, surpassing the prior season's total of 21. Amaker was again a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award, was a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award and was selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches as the District 13 Coach of the Year. He was named Ivy League coach of the year by Collegeinsider.com.

On November 25, 2011, Amaker's 2011-12 Harvard team defeated then-ranked Florida State (#22 AP Poll/#20 Coaches' Poll) for the school's second win over a ranked team in the program's history. This was the highest ranked opponent in the Coaches Poll that Harvard has ever defeated. On December 5, 2011, Harvard made its first ever appearance in either the AP (25) or Coaches Poll (24). It leaves Brown as the only remaining Ivy League school to have never been ranked in the AP Poll and leaves only seven schools that have played Division I basketball since the AP Poll began that have never been ranked in it. Harvard is the first Ivy League team ranked in the Coaches Poll since the 2009–10 Cornell Big Red and the first Ivy League team ranked in the AP Poll since the 1997–98 Princeton Tigers, who finished 8th in the poll. By January 2, the team achieved rankings of 22 in the AP Poll and 21 in the Coaches Poll. The team was also ranked 21st in the Coaches Poll On February 6. The team established a new record for single-season wins as well as single-season non-league wins and tied the record for conference game wins. He was selected by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association as the 2011–12 Men's District I (ME, VT, NH, RI, MA, CT) Coach of the Year. Amaker was also the winner of the NABC Coach of the Year for District 13 and again a finalist for both the Ben Jobe Award and the Hugh Durham Award. On March 6, 2012, Harvard earned its first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 1946.