Austin Peay basketball coach Nate James fired: Ex

Jul 06, 2023

Austin Peay fired head men's basketball coach Nate James, a former Duke assistant and player, after two seasons Sunday, according to reports Sunday. James, who spent 12 years under former Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski, posted a combined record of 21-39 over the two campaigns in Clarksville, Tennessee.

The Governors moved from the Ohio Valley Conference to the substantially-more-difficult Atlantic Sun this past season, going 9-22 overall and 3-15 in the league for a last-place finish. Austin Peay has not announced the move as of early Monday morning.

James came to Austin Peay after serving as an assistant coach at Duke from 2009-21. Before that, James spent the 2008-09 season as Duke's conditioning coach straight out of his playing career. James was a five-year player on the wing at Duke who played five seasons of professional basketball overseas.

The Detroit native is one of many former Krzyzewski assistants to move on to head coaching jobs. Krzyzewski's coaching tree has posted mixed results; Northwestern head coach Chris Collins and Pittsburgh head coach Jeff Capel have rallied their respective programs this season, and Duke head coach Jon Scheyer has improved the Blue Devils down the stretch in his debut season while sweeping in-state rival North Carolina. Former Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski flamed out with the Golden Eagles while Johnny Dawkins has made the NCAA Tournament just twice over 15 seasons at Stanford and UCF.

As for who might replace James in Clarksville, Stadium's Jeff Goodman tipped Northwestern State head coach Corey Gipson as a possibility. Gipson is in his first season at the helm of the Demons' program and has improved the team's record from 9-23 last season under former coach Mike McConathy to 21-10 during the 2022-23 campaign. Northwestern State went 13-5 in the Southland Conference to finish in second place and this week will play for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Austin Peay is located about 45 minutes by car from Nashville, Tennessee, northwest of the city and toward the state's border with Kentucky. The Governors most recently experienced a successful four-year run under former head coach Matt Figger from 2017 through 2021, finishing with a winning record in each of those four seasons. Figger moved on to UT Rio Grande Valley in 2021.

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The Govs have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2016 under late former coach Dave Loos. That season, Austin Peay went 18-18 overall and just 7-9 in the OVC but won four games in four days at the conference tournament to steal a bid to March Madness from the likes of Belmont, Murray State and Morehead State. No. 16 seed Austin Peay ultimately fell to No. 1 seed Kansas in a blowout loss during the first round of the NCAA Tournament by a score of 105-79.