Sam Vincent

For other people named Sam Vincent, see Sam Vincent (disambiguation).

Sam Vincent

MBB
Position	Head coach
League	Basketball Africa League
Personal information
Born	(1963-05-18) May 18, 1963 (age 61) Lansing, Michigan, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school	Eastern (Lansing, Michigan)
College	Michigan State (1981–1985)
NBA draft	1985: 1st round, 20th overall pick
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Playing career	1985–1994
Position	Point guard
Number	11, 14
Coaching career	1999–Present
Career history
As player:
1985–1987	Boston Celtics
1987–1988	Seattle SuperSonics
1988–1989	Chicago Bulls
1989–1992	Orlando Magic
1993–1994	Aris
As coach:
1999–2000	Gymnastikos S. Larissas
2000–2001	EiffelTowers Den Bosch
2001–2003	Mobile Revelers
2005–2006	Fort Worth Flyers
2006–2007	Dallas Mavericks (assistant)
2007–2008	Charlotte Bobcats
2008–2009	Anaheim Arsenal
2014–2016	Manama Club
2022–2025	Beacon College
2025–present	MBB
Career highlights and awards
NBA champion (1986) Second-team All-American – NABC (1985) Third-team All-American – AP, UPI (1985) First-team Parade All-American (1981) Mr. Basketball of Michigan (1981) NBA D-League champion (2003)
Career NBA statistics
Points	3,106 (7.8 ppg)
Assists	1,543 (3.9 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

James Samuel Vincent (born May 18, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He is the current coach of MBB of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

Vincent was Mr. Basketball of Michigan in 1981, while playing with Michigan State, and turned professional after four years of college basketball. He became an NBA champion in 1986 with the Boston Celtics. Vincent became a coaching career in Europe after his retirement.

Playing career

Vincent won the State of Michigan "Mr. Basketball" award in 1981, the first year the award was given. He attended Lansing's Eastern High School, where he scored 61 points in one game as a senior, breaking the previous city scoring record of 54 set by Magic Johnson at Everett High School.

A 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) point guard, Vincent followed in the footsteps of his older brother Jay Vincent, attending Michigan State University and earning Sporting News All-America honors in 1985. After graduating from college, he was selected by the Boston Celtics with the twentieth pick of the 1985 NBA draft. He played two seasons for the Celtics, winning an NBA Championship ring as a reserve in 1986, before joining the Seattle SuperSonics, who promptly traded him to the Chicago Bulls for Sedale Threatt. After one-and-a-half solid seasons with the Bulls, he was selected by the Orlando Magic in the 1989 NBA expansion draft, and he finished his NBA career with the Magic in 1992. His 1990–1991 NBA Hoops basketball card has gained fame due to having Michael Jordan in view wearing a #12 jersey, instead of his normal #23. Vincent scored 3,106 points and tallied 1,543 assists during his seven-year tenure in the league.

Shortly after retiring, Vincent worked at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Walt Disney World. During the late 1990s, he coached basketball in South Africa, and he has also coached in Greece, Netherlands, Nigeria, and the NBA Developmental League; he went to the league finals in the NBADL twice, winning once. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, he led the Nigerian women's basketball team to a 68–64 victory over South Korea, which was the first ever victory by an African nation in an Olympic women's basketball contest.

Coaching career

He was coach of the Fort Worth Flyers in the 2005–06 season. Shortly after coaching the Nigeria men's team to the second round of the 2006 FIBA World Championship (including a shocking upset of traditional power Serbia and Montenegro), he was hired as an assistant coach by the Dallas Mavericks.

On May 25, 2007, Vincent was introduced as the new head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA. ^[1] On April 26, 2008, Vincent was relieved of his head coaching duties. ^[2] Later that year, Vincent was named the head coach of the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBA Development League.

Nigerian national basketball team

Vincent assumed coaching the D'Tigress at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He led the team to a 68–64 victory over South Korea, the victory was the first victory by an African side in the women's basketball event in the Olympics. In 2005, Sam Vincent led the Nigerian women's basketball team to their second tournament victory in the FIBA African Basketball Championship (Afrobasket).

Vincent returned as the team's head coach in 2017. He led the team to a 100 per cent performance in the 2017 FIBA African women's basketball tournament Afrobasket in Bamako, Mali. The team clinched their third Afrobasket title by defeating Senegal by 65–48 points in the final and consequently qualifying for the FIBA women's basketball World cup in Spain. ^[3]

Vincent had his appointment as head coach of the Nigeria Women's Basketball Team terminated by the Nigeria Basketball Federation on Thursday, August 2 while the team was preparing for the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. ^[4]

Vincent was appointed as head coach of the Bahrain national basketball team, replacing Serbian coach Darko Ruso. This was after having coached the Riffa, Manama and Al-Ahli Manama clubs. ^[5]

In September 2022, Vincent was named the first head coach of the men's team at Beacon College, a liberal arts school in Central Florida. ^[6]

On February 4, 2025, Vincent was announced as the new head coach of South African club MBB of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). ^{[7] [8]} Former Magic player Pat Burke took over the position as head men's basketball coach and director of athletics at Beacon in March 2025. ^[9]

Personal

Vincent has kids, who have the South African nationality. ^[8]

Head coaching record

NBA

Legend

Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
Charlotte	2007–08	82	32	50	.390	4th in Southeast	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
Career		82	32	50	.390		—	—	—	—

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Beacon College NaviGators (men) ()(2022–2023)
2022–23	Beacon College	0–5 [10]	Unaffiliated (Developmental Season)
Beacon College Blazers (men) ()(2023–Present)
2023–24	Beacon College	10–6 [11]	USCAA Division I Independent
Total:		10–11 (.476)
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. Charlotte Bobcats (May 25, 2007). "Bobcats New Era Begins With Vincent". Charlotte Bobcats. Archived from the original on March 7, 2009.
2. Bobcats fire Sam Vincent; is Brown interested?
3. "Sam Vincent|: Beating the Odds". September 9, 2017.
4. "BREAKING: Nigeria D'Tigress Head Coach Sam Vincent fired! | BWB". www.basketballwithinborders.com. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
5. "Former NBA player Sam Vincent signed as coach of Bahrain's national basketball team | TOB". www.timeoutbahrain.com. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
6. "Faculty and Staff Archive".
7. MBB Basketball [@mbb_basketball] (February 4, 2025). "MBB welcomes Sam Vincent! Sam Vincent, a former NBA champion and well established international coach with incredible impact over many years, is joining Team MBB as head coach for BAL Season 5! Sam has a deep love for our country and continent, and is ready to bring his invaluable experience and passion for the game to our players and team. GHIV US Everything you've got Coach! Let's go! #iTeamYaseDladleni #GHIVUS #MadeByBall" – via Instagram.
8. "South Africa's MBB appoint former Mavs coach Sam Vincent for BAL". ESPN.com. February 5, 2025. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
9. "Burke Appointed as Athletics Director". beaconcollege.edu. March 2025.
10. "Beacon College 2022–23 Men's Basketball Game Log" – via Google Sheets.
11. "Beacon Men's Basketball 2023–24 Game Log" – via Google Docs.

External links

• NBA.com coach profile
• Career statistics from NBA.com    and  Basketball Reference