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Billy Taylor (basketball)

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Billy Taylor
Taylor on the Iowa sideline in a game at Williams Arena on February 16, 2020.
Current position
TitleHead Coach
TeamElon
ConferenceCAA
Record21–44 (.323)
Biographical details
Born (1973-06-12) June 12, 1973 (age 51)
Playing career
1991–1995Notre Dame
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1998–1999Notre Dame (assistant)
1999–2002UNC Greensboro (assistant)
2002–2007Lehigh
2007–2013Ball State
2013–2016Iowa (assistant)
2016–2019Belmont Abbey
2019–2022Iowa (assistant)
2022–presentElon
Head coaching record
Overall235–254 (.481)
Tournaments0–1 (NCAA Tournament)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Patriot League regular season (2004)
Patriot League tournament (2004)
MAC West Division (2009)
Awards
2× Patriot League Coach of the Year (2003, 2004)

Billy Taylor (born June 12, 1973) is an American college basketball coach. He is the current head coach for the Elon Phoenix men's basketball team.[1] Taylor previously served as the head men's basketball coach at Lehigh University from 2002 to 2007 and Ball State University from 2007 to 2013.

Playing career

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Taylor was an honor roll student and commencement speaker at West Aurora High School in Aurora, Illinois. He was recruited by Digger Phelps to play at the University of Notre Dame, though he played under John MacLeod.[2]

Coaching career

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After spending three years working for Arthur Andersen and earning his CPA, Taylor took an assistant coaching position under MacLeod at Notre Dame in 1998. One year later he followed former Lehigh head coach Fran McCaffery to UNC Greensboro.[3]

Taylor was appointed to succeed Sal Mentesana as the 26th men's basketball head coach at Lehigh University on April 16, 2002.[4] In his inaugural campaign, he become the all-time winningest first-year coach in Lehigh history. The Mountain Hawks surprised many by winning 16 games, including eight in the Patriot League. Their eleven-game improvement over the year before was the second best in all of Division I. For his outstanding efforts, Taylor earned the 2002–03 Patriot League Coach of the Year honors in voting by the league coaches. In 2003-04, Taylor led Lehigh to its first-ever Patriot League regular season and tournament championships, as well as a trip to the NCAA tournament. For his efforts, Taylor earned the league's Coach of the Year honor for the second time in as many seasons, becoming the first coach since Gonzaga's Mark Few to win conference coach of the year honors in each of his first two seasons as a head coach.[5]

In 2005-06, Lehigh posted the third-most wins in school history with its 19-12 overall mark and a school-record 11 Patriot League wins.

In August 2007 Taylor was offered and took the head coaching position at Ball State University.[6] During his six seasons at Ball State (2007–13), the Cardinals finished either first or second in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Division three times and advanced to the MAC Tournament semifinals twice. Taylor coached nine all-conference selections and also mentored a MAC All-Freshman Team member five straight seasons. He was fired in March 2013.[7]

Taylor rejoined McCaffery prior to the 2013–14 season at the University of Iowa.[8] Taylor was Hawkeyes staff for back-to-back NCAA Tournament teams (2013–14 and 2014–15). In 2014-15, Iowa advanced to the Round of 32 after posting its largest margin of victory ever in an NCAA Tournament game, a 31-point win over Davidson. The Hawkeyes produced back-to-back first-team All-Big Ten honorees and NBA Draft selections (Roy Devyn Marble in 2014 and Aaron White in 2015) with Taylor on staff. In June 2016, Taylor was hired as the head men's basketball coach at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina where he'd post a 49–42 record in three seasons. In May 2019, he rejoined McCaffery at Iowa.[9]

On April 15, Taylor was named the 19th head coach in Elon basketball history, replacing Mike Schrage.[10][11]

Head coaching record

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Lehigh Mountain Hawks (Patriot League) (2002–2007)
2002–03 Lehigh 16–12 8–6 4th
2003–04 Lehigh 20–11 10–4 T–1st NCAA Division I Opening Round
2004–05 Lehigh 14–15 7–7 T–4th
2005–06 Lehigh 19–12 11–3 T–2nd
2006–07 Lehigh 12–19 7–7 T–3rd
Lehigh: 81–69 (.540) 43–27 (.614)
Ball State Cardinals (Mid-American Conference) (2007–2013)
2007–08 Ball State 6–24 5–11 5th (West)
2008–09 Ball State 14–17 7–9 T–1st (West)
2009–10 Ball State 15–15 8–8 T–2nd (West)
2010–11 Ball State 19–13 10–6 2nd (West)
2011–12 Ball State 15–15 6–10 T–3rd (West)
2012–13 Ball State 15–15 8–8 3rd (West)
Ball State: 84–99 (.459) 44–52 (.458)
Belmont Abbey Crusaders (Conference Carolinas) (2016–2019)
2016–17 Belmont Abbey 14–15 10–10 6th
2017–18 Belmont Abbey 12–19 5–13 9th
2018–19 Belmont Abbey 23–8 14–4 2nd
Belmont Abbey: 49–42 (.538) 29–27 (.518)
Elon Phoenix (Coastal Athletic Association) (2022–present)
2022–23 Elon 8–24 6–12 T–9th
2023–24 Elon 13–19 6–12 11th
2024–25 Elon 0–1 0–0
Elon: 21–44 (.323) 12–24 (.333)
Total: 235–254 (.481)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ "Elon names Billy Taylor its head men's basketball coach". Today at Elon. April 15, 2022.
  2. ^ "Billy Taylor College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  3. ^ Taylor Made Archived May 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine; Ball State Daily News
  4. ^ "Lehigh names Billy Taylor basketball coach," United Press International (UPI), Tuesday, April 16, 2002. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  5. ^ "Billy Taylor - Men's Basketball Coach". Lehigh University Athletics.
  6. ^ Brunt, Cliff (August 9, 2017). "Ball State Introduces Billy Taylor as men's basketball coach". Palladium-Item. Associated Press. p. 11. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ St. Myer, Thomas (March 15, 2013). "Ball State fires basketball coach Billy Taylor". The Star Press. p. A1. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Billy Taylor". University of Iowa Athletics. April 9, 2020.
  9. ^ "BILLY TAYLOR NAMED TO IOWA BASKETBALL STAFF". Iowa Hawkeyes. May 21, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  10. ^ "Billy Taylor Named Elon Men's Basketball Head Coach". Elon University Athletics.
  11. ^ III, Kennington Lloyd Smith. "Iowa basketball assistant Billy Taylor accepts head coaching job at Elon". Hawk Central.
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