Doug Wojcik

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Doug Wojcik
Current position
TitleAssistant coach
TeamMichigan State
ConferenceBig Ten
Biographical details
Born (1964-04-12) April 12, 1964 (age 59)
Wheeling, West Virginia, U.S.
Playing career
1983–1987Navy
Position(s)Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1990–1999Navy (assistant)
1999–2000Notre Dame (assistant)
2000–2003North Carolina (assistant)
2003–2004Michigan State (assistant)
2004–2005Michigan State (associate HC)
2005–2012Tulsa
2012–2014College of Charleston
2015–2016Gonzaga (special assistant)
2017–2018East Carolina (assistant)
2021–presentMichigan State (assistant)
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2018–2021Michigan State (director of recruiting)
Head coaching record
Overall178–121[1]
Tournaments1–2 (NIT)
5–2 (CBI)
9–7 (C-USA)
2–1 (SoCon)
0–1 (CAA)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As head coach:

CBI (2008)

As assistant:

As player:

  • ECAC South Regular Season and Tournament (1985)
  • 2x CAA Regular Season and Tournament (1986, 1987)
Awards
  • CAA All Conference (1987)
  • NABC All District (1987)
  • USNA Coaches' Calvert Award (1987)
  • USNA Athletic Hall of Fame
  • CAA 25th Anniversary Team
Records
Navy's All-time Assists Leader (714)
Tulsa's All-time Wins Leader (140)

Frederick Douglas Wojcik[2] (pronounced WO-jick[3]) (born April 12, 1964) is an American college basketball coach, former player, and former Naval officer. Currently, he is an assistant coach for Tom Izzo at Michigan State University. An NCAA Division I head coach for nine years, Wojcik has averaged 20 wins per season while compiling an overall record of 178–121 (.595), and an overall conference record of 88–58 (.602). He is the winningest coach in the history of the University of Tulsa. He is a native of Wheeling, West Virginia.

Career

Early career

In high school, Wojcik played at Wheeling Central Catholic High School under Skip Prosser, who went on to coach at Loyola University Maryland, Xavier University and Wake Forest University.[4] Prosser and Wojcik led Wheeling Central Catholic to its first West Virginia SSAC "AA" State Championship in 1982. Wojcik graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1987 and served in the Navy until 1992. While at Navy, Wojcik had a very successful playing career as a three-year starter at point guard for the Midshipmen alongside Hall of Famer David Robinson, amassing several team records for assists. He also received the Coaches' Calvert Award presented by the Naval Academy Athletic Association. Once Wojcik completed his military service, he returned to Annapolis as an assistant coach, helping Navy to three Patriot League titles and three NCAA tournament berths—in 1994, 1997, and 1998. Wojcik continued his coaching career at Notre Dame, North Carolina (2001 Regular-season Champions) and Michigan State (2005 Final Four) until he was hired for his first head coaching job by Tulsa.[5] He was considered one of the top assistants in the country,[6] being named a "Head Coach in the Waiting" by Athlon Sports in 2001 and by ESPN's Jay Bilas in 2003.[3] Wojcik was also recognized as "Assistant Coach on the Rise" by Andy Katz of ESPN.com.[3]

University of Tulsa

From 2005 to 2012, Wojcik led the University of Tulsa men's basketball program and became the all-time winningest head coach in program history with 140 career wins.

In the 2005–06 season, his first year as head coach, Wojcik posted an 11–17 record with the Golden Hurricane,[7] an improvement over two consecutive 9-win seasons in 2003–04[8] and 2004–05.[9] His second season saw more improvement, with a final 20–11 overall record and a 9–7 Conference USA record,[10] TU's first winning conference record in three years.

In his seven years at Tulsa, Wojcik posted four consecutive 20-win seasons, including back-to-back 25-win campaigns, advanced to the championship game of the Conference USA Tournament in 2008 and 2009, won the inaugural College Basketball Invitational title in 2008, and received two NIT at-large bids in 2009 and 2010.

During his tenure, Tulsa was one of C‐USA's top defensive teams and ranked among the top defenses in the country. Wojcik developed three future NBA players in Ben Uzoh, Jerome Jordan and Jordan Clarkson (2015 NBA All‐Rookie First Team and 2021 NBA Sixth Man of the Year), as well as Conference USA leading scorer Justin Hurtt. He also recruited four of the top 10 all-time leading scorers in Tulsa history in Uzoh (No. 3), James Woodard (No. 4), Hurtt (No. 8) and Jerome Jordan (No. 10).

During the 2011–12 season, Wojcik won his 138th game, passing Clarence Iba as the winningest coach in school history. However, citing a decline in season ticket sales, Tulsa released him on March 11, 2012.[11]

College of Charleston

Wojcik became head coach at the College of Charleston in 2012 and coached there for two seasons, where he led his team to a 38–29 overall mark. In his first season, the team posted a 24–11 record and secured an appearance in the Southern Conference championship game, and earned a post-season berth to the College Basketball Invitational. In year two, Wojcik transitioned his second Division I program into a higher-ranked conference, the Colonial Athletic Association.

In July 2014, an internal investigation found it "likely" Wojcik had been verbally abusive toward players. Outgoing president P. George Benson retained but suspended Wojcik for the month of August.[12][13][14] On August 6, new president[15] Glenn McConnell announced Wojcik had been fired for "just cause."[16] Since Wojcik was still under contract, the matter was briefly disputed between the two parties. However, in September 2014, Charleston and Wojcik reached a settlement, and agreed not to make further comments on the issue.[13]

Gonzaga

Wojcik served as the special assistant to Gonzaga head coach Mark Few during the 2015–16 season, where the Bulldogs earned their fourth-straight West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles, their 18th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and a second-straight Sweet 16 berth with a 28–8 overall record.

East Carolina

Wojcik served as the assistant men's basketball coach for East Carolina of the American Athletic Conference for the 2017–18 season.

Michigan State

Wojcik was named Tom Izzo's Director of Recruiting for Michigan State during the 2018–19 season. That season, the Spartans won both the Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships, and advanced to the 2019 Final Four. In 2019–20, Michigan State won its third-consecutive Big Ten regular-season championship. In May 2021, Wojcik was promoted to assistant coach.[17]

Personal life

Doug Wojcik married former Navy women's basketball and track athlete, Lael House, in 1998.[2] Their two boys play college basketball: Paxson played and graduated from Brown University where he was the team captain and named All Ivy League. Paxson now plays at the University of North Carolina as a graduate transfer. Denham is a point guard at Harvard University where he is team captain.[18][19]

Doug Wojcik's younger brother Dave Wojcik was a longtime college basketball coach as well.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (Conference USA) (2005–2012[20])
2005–06 Tulsa 11–17 6–8 T–6th
2006–07 Tulsa 20–11 9–7 T–4th
2007–08 Tulsa 25–14 8–8 T–5th CBI champion
2008–09 Tulsa 25–11 12–4 2nd NIT Second Round
2009–10 Tulsa 23–12 10–6 4th NIT First Round
2010–11 Tulsa 19–13 11–5 T–2nd
2011–12 Tulsa 17–14 10–6 T–3rd
Tulsa: 140–92 (.603) 68–44 (.607)
College of Charleston Cougars (Southern Conference) (2012–2013)
2012–13 College of Charleston 24–11 14–4 2nd (South) CBI First Round
College of Charleston Cougars (Colonial Athletic Association) (2013–2014)
2013–14 College of Charleston 14–18 6–10 6th
College of Charleston: 38–29 (.567) 20–14 (.588)
Total: 178–121 (.595)

      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

  1. ^ Source – Doug Wojcik of Tulsa Golden Hurricane hired to coach College of Charleston – ESPN
  2. ^ a b Haisten, Bill (May 1, 2005). "Man on a mission; Doug Wojcik begins process of rebuilding Hurricane basketball program". Tulsa World. Archived from the original on November 7, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Doug Wojcik". College of Charleston Athletics. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  4. ^ "Doug Wojcik". North Carolina Tar Heels. Archived from the original on April 7, 2005.
  5. ^ Wojcik was Spartans' associate head coach – Men's College Basketball – ESPN
  6. ^ Katz, Andy (March 14, 2005). "Wojcik inheriting team that finished 9–20". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  7. ^ Tulsa Golden Hurricane Basketball 2005–06 Schedule – Golden Hurricane Home and Away – ESPN
  8. ^ Tulsa Golden Hurricane Basketball 2003–04 Schedule – Golden Hurricane Home and Away – ESPN
  9. ^ Tulsa Golden Hurricane Basketball 2004–05 Schedule – Golden Hurricane Home and Away – ESPN
  10. ^ Tulsa Golden Hurricane Basketball 2006–07 Schedule – Golden Hurricane Home and Away – ESPN
  11. ^ Tulsa Golden Hurricane fire head coach Doug Wojcik – ESPN
  12. ^ Andrew Miller; Gene Sapakoff (2014-07-04). "College of Charleston coach Doug Wojcik hammered in report, accused of verbal abuse and physical threats". The Post and Courier.
  13. ^ a b "Fired Doug Wojcik gets $400K". ESPN. 2014-09-16.
  14. ^ Miller, Andrew (2014-07-22). "College of Charleston President Glenn McConnell orders second investigation of Coach Doug Wojcik". The Post and Courier.
  15. ^ "Controversial College of Charleston president hired despite warnings". MSNBC.com. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
  16. ^ Miller, Andrew (August 5, 2014). "College of Charleston fires Doug Wojcik; Anthony Johnson 'definitely interested' in job". Post and Courier. Archived from the original on August 7, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  17. ^ "Doug Wojcik named Michigan State Spartans men's basketball assistant coach". miningjournal.net. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  18. ^ "Denham Wojcik". Harvard University. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  19. ^ Baxley, Rodd (March 27, 2023). "Brown transfer Paxson Wojcik commits to UNC basketball". fayobserver.com. The Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  20. ^ 2018–19 Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball record and fact book (PDF), Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 2018, pp. 148, 169–70, retrieved September 16, 2019[permanent dead link]

External links