Mark Gottfried
Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964 in Crestline, Ohio) is a men's college basketball coach and is the former head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. The program has achieved both its only #1 ranking in the AP poll and only advancement to the Elite Eight during his tenure. Gottfried played three seasons of basketball at Alabama, and the Crimson Tide advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in each of those seasons. Gottfried resigned as head coach at Alabama on January 26, 2009, two days after the Crimson Tide suffered a 10-point loss to Kentucky and the recent departure of point guard Ronald Steele.
Prep career
He graduated from Mobile’s UMS Prep, now known as UMS-Wright Preparatory School, in 1982. He played on the UMS basketball team for one season, averaging 21.6 ppg/11.2 rpg, and was a inducted into the National Honor Society. Gottfried was inducted into UMS-Wright’s Hall of Fame and in 2004 was the UMS Alumnus of the Year. He also attended Carterville High School in Carterville, Illinois (14 ppg/4 apg) and Carbondale High School in Carbondale, Illinois (16 ppg/6 apg).
College career
Gottfried graduated with a Bachelor of Arts & Sciences in Communications from the University of Alabama in 1987. He attended Oral Roberts on a basketball scholarship his freshman season, 1982-1983, before transferring to Alabama. He attended UCLA graduate school for two years.
Coaching career
UCLA
Gottfried served as an assistant coach for 8 seasons (1987-95) at UCLA under Jim Harrick. Also members of the staff were former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin and current Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar. The Bruins were the 1995 NCAA Champions with Gottfried as an Assistant Coach & recruiter. The Bruins were ranked 1st nationally for their recruiting class in 1994 and produced future NBA players Ed O'Bannon, George Zidek, Tyus Edney, Don MacLean, Tracy Murray, Pooh Richardson, Trevor Wilson, Darrick Martin and Mitchell Butler.[1] He has faced his former school twice as head coach at Alabama, losing 79–57 in the 2001 John Wooden Classic and losing 62–59 in the 2nd Round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
Murray State
Gottfried was Head Coach from 1995–97 at Murray State University and compiled a 68–24 overall record. Murray State advanced to the NCAA tournament in 1997 and again in 1998 and made the NIT in his first season there in 1996; He was first Ohio Valley Conference coach to win three OVC titles in only three seasons; Gottfried coached Racers to three Ohio Valley Conference Championships, all three years he coached there.
Alabama
Gottfried was hired by the University of Alabama on March 25, 1998, after three seasons coaching at Murray State. He led the Tide to the SEC regular season championship in the 2001-2002 season. The following year, his team became the first in Crimson Tide history to be ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. The team held the top spot for two weeks before losing 51-49 to Utah in the second-to-last game before conference play. Since then, his tenure at Alabama has been marked by key player injuries and disappointment. He has posted back to back losing seasons in the SEC in 2006-07 and 2007-08. The 2007-08 season marked the first time in nine years (only the second time under Gottfried) that Alabama did not reach either the NIT or NCAA post-season tournament, although the Tide did receive an invitation to the first annual College Basketball Invitational, which it did not accept.
On January 26, 2009, after a meeting with Alabama Athletics Director Mal Moore, Gottfried resigned as basketball coach at the University of Alabama. In 2011 he was hired by North Carolina State University.
| Preceded by: David Hobbs |
Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball coach 1998–2008 |
Succeeded by: Philip Pearson (interim) |
Family
Mark and his wife, Elizabeth, have four sons and one daughter. His father, Joe Gottfried, was also a basketball coach and currently serves as Director of Athletics at the University of South Alabama. His uncle, Mike Gottfried, was a college football head coach and is now an analyst on ESPN college football broadcasts. Both served as head coaches of their respective programs at Murray State.
References
- Mark Gottfried. (2009, January 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22:04, January 27, 2009 [1]