MBB: Cincinnati makes hiring of Tim Buckley official

by Ryan Roberts

From gobearcats:

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati men's basketball head coach Wes Miller has announced the hiring of veteran coach Tim Buckley to fill out his 2024-25 assistant coaching staff.
 
"I'm excited to welcome Tim Buckley to our staff," Miller said. "He brings a wealth of experience that is unique in college basketball. He has experience working with great players and great coaches as a high major assistant, and he's been a part of very successful teams. On top of that, he's been a head coach and has spent time recently in the NBA."
 
Buckley, previously at South Carolina for two years, spent 10 years as a head coach at Ball State (2000-06) and NCAA Division III Rockford in Illinois (1989-93). He has more than 35 years of coaching experience overall with recent assistant stops at South Carolina, UNLV, Indiana, Marquette and Iowa. While at Ball State, he helped lead the team to upset wins over No. 3 Kansas and No. 4 UCLA during the 2001 Maui Invitational.
 
Buckley boasts familiarity with the Bearcats, as he previously worked with coaches Jake Thelen and Drew Adams at Indiana, as well as with Adams when he was a walk-on under Steve Alford at Iowa.

This past season, South Carolina posted its greatest single-season turnaround in school history at 26-8, returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. The 26 victories tied the 2016-17 Final Four team for the most wins in program history.

South Carolina allowed just 66.4 points per game during the regular season in 2023-24, which led the SEC, and was one of just four teams in the SEC to rank in the top-50 of adjusted efficiency on offense and defense via KenPom.

Prior to his Columbia stint, he was an assistant at UNLV from 2019-22, first under current Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger, then remained for the 2021-22 season with Kevin Kruger.

UNLV had its best of the three seasons in 2019-20, finishing in a tie for second in the Mountain West Conference, its best finish in 12 seasons.  The Rebels' marquee win was at No. 4 San Diego State, their highest ranked true road win in 29 years.

During the summer of 2020, Buckley was named one of the top assistant coaches in the Mountain West by Stadium's Jeff Goodman.

Buckley served as a scout with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves for two years (2017-19) before returning to coaching with the Runnin' Rebels. Prior to his time in the league, he worked as assistant and associate head coach under Tom Crean and Indiana for nine seasons (2008-17).

He was on staff for the entire Crean tenure in Bloomington, helping the Hoosiers to a 166-135 record (.551) including a 138-69 mark (.667) the last six seasons there. While at IU, Buckley was a part of two Big Ten titles (2013, 2016), four NCAA Tournament appearances and three trips to the Sweet Sixteen. He helped coach three All-Americans in Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo and Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell.

Buckley had assistant coaching stops at Marquette (2007-08) under Crean and at Iowa (2006-07) under Alford.

His collegiate coaching career began at NCAA Division II Bemidji State. Buckley played collegiately at Waubonsee Community College in Illinois before finishing at Bemidji State where he would earn his bachelor's and master's degrees.

Buckley and his wife Shannon, married in 1994, have one daughter, Meredith.

RiverfrontU thoughts:

This is a great hire for Wes in a year where the Bearcats return one of the most talented rosters in recent Bearcat history. 

Known as the "shot doctor", Buckley is widely regarded as one of the best shooting coaches in the game and should help continue to elevate the on and off the court development of the 2024/25 Cincinnati roster.

Tom Crean credits Buckley for helping find Dwayne Wade and describes the newest Cincinnati assistant as a key piece to Indiana's turn around within the Big 10 during Crean's tenure. 

 

 

 

 

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