|
 Marshall
head coach Ron Jirsa is accustomed to being around
some winning programs in his 23 years as a
collegiate coach - Jirsa has nine NCAA tournament
appearances under his belt and has been in the
postseason 14 times, including three trips to the
Sweet Sixteen.
Jirsa knows what it takes to be successful at the
highest levels of college basketball, and he is
encouraged by what he sees heading into the 2005-06
campaign. Jirsa and his staff have worked hard in
the last year on the recruiting trail, and all are
ready to see the new faces hit the floor for the
Green and White this fall.
Marshall has had some big wins in the last two years
under Jirsa. The Herd notched victories over NCAA
Tournament teams UAB and Western Michigan in
2003-04, and in 2004-05, Marshall knocked off
eventual Elite Eight participant West Virginia in
the two teams' annual game in Charleston.
Jirsa is entering his third year as the head coach
of the Thundering Herd after serving as an assistant
coach at Dayton under then-head coach Oliver Purnell
for four seasons. Jirsa, 45, brings a wealth of
experience to Marshall and the basketball program -
he has 23 years of collegiate coaching experience,
including 19 years at the NCAA Division I level.
During his stint at UD, the Flyers posted an 88-39
overall record, made two NCAA Tournament and two NIT
appearances. In 2002-03, Dayton posted a 24-6
record, won the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship,
advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a number four
seed, and finished ranked among the Top 25 teams in
the nation in the final Associated Press and USA
Today polls.
Jirsa served as head coach at the University of
Georgia from 1997 to 99 before his tenure at Dayton,
and his squads posted a combined 35-30 record.
During his time in Athens, the Bulldogs put together
back-to-back recruiting classes that were rated
among the top five in the nation by several
recruiting analysts. His teams also made two NIT
appearances. In his first season, UGA posted a 20-15
record, only the seventh 20-win season in UGA
history, along the way to a third place finish in
the NIT. Jirsa's Bulldogs put together a 4-1 record
in the postseason, with wins over Iowa, North
Carolina State, Vanderbilit, and Fresno State in
March, 1998.
Jirsa became the head coach after a six-year
apprenticeship under Orlando "Tubby" Smith, with
whom Jirsa helped four consecutive teams win at
least 21 games and reach the NCAA Tournament. The
first three of those - two at the University of
Tulsa and one at Georgia - advanced to the NCAA
"Sweet Sixteen."
Smith and Jirsa first built their working
relationship at Virginia Commonwealth, where both
served under coach J.D. Barnett in the 1984-85
season. That year the Rams went 26-6, won the Sun
Belt Conference title and played in the NCAA
Tournament. They reunited when Smith hired him as an
assistant at Tulsa before the 1991-92 season. Three
years later Jirsa was named Associate Head Coach for
the Golden Hurricane.
As associate head coach at Georgia, Jirsa not only
directed the Bulldogs' recruiting operations, but he
also worked daily with the frontcourt players and
contributed to the development of game strategies.
Jirsa began his coaching career as an assistant
coach at Connecticut College following his
graduation from Gettysburg College in 1981. Two
years later, he moved on to the University of
Delaware and spent one season with the Blue Hens
before taking a graduate assistant position with a
Virginia Commonwealth program that finished ranked
11th in the nation in 1984-85.
He then took an assistant position at Tulsa for
three seasons (1985-88) under J.D. Barnett before
making one year stops at Belmont Abbey (1988-89),
and Gardner-Webb (1990-91). In 1991, he returned to
Tulsa as an assistant under Tubby Smith before being
promoted to associate head coach at the school in
1994. From there, Jirsa followed Smith to Georgia
where he served as associate head coach from 1995 to
97.
Jirsa earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology
from Gettysburg College in 1981 and a Master of Arts
in Athletic Administration from the University of
Tulsa in 1987. He was a three-sport letterwinner at
Ledyard High School in Ledyard, Connecticut. He and
his wife Laura have one daughter, Hannah (5). |
