Vanderbilt Basketball Promotes James Strong To Assistant Coach

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Vanderbilt men’s basketball Head Coach Jerry Stackhouse has announced that James Strong has been elevated to Assistant Coach.

Strong, who graduated from Vandy in 2000 and was a captain for the Commodores, has served on Stackhouse’s staff in various roles for each of the last four seasons.

“We are excited to promote James Strong to an assistant coach,” says Stackhouse. “He is a Vanderbilt man who loves the university, the city and our basketball program. He is an excellent basketball coach with extensive experience across the Southeast. We are confident that his connection to Vanderbilt and his familiarity with the spirit of Memorial Magic will tremendously benefit our program as he continues to mentor our student-athletes.”

The program record holder for steals in a game and in a season, Strong previously served as an assistant coach at Belmont for eight seasons and Furman for five. Prior to that, he was on staff at Vanderbilt under Kevin Stallings for six seasons.

Strong recently completed his 27th season in college basketball as a student-athlete, coach or staff member. He has been part of 18 winning seasons, six NCAA Tournaments and 10 NIT appearances. His teams have won seven regular season championships and three conference tournament championships.

“I love what we are building here at Vanderbilt,” says Strong. “There’s something special about working for your alma mater, and I’ve loved serving on the staff the last four seasons. I’m excited and thankful to Coach Stackhouse for this opportunity to continue to work with our student-athletes in a new role.”

During his current tenure with the Dores, Strong has helped the resurgence of the program, including back-to-back NIT quarterfinals appearances. He spent the 2022-2023 season as the program’s Director of Operations, the 2021-2022 campaign as the Director of Scouting & Recruiting and the previous two as the Director of Player Personnel.

Prior to his return to Vandy, Strong made a tremendous impact for Belmont as an assistant coach – helping the Bruins reach four NCAA Tournaments during an eight-season stretch. Belmont went 195-71 during his tenure, won six consecutive regular season conference championships, received top 25 poll votes and earned victories over North Carolina, Marquette, Stanford and Georgia.

As a student-athlete, he was a four-year letter winner for the Commodores (1996-2000), leading Vanderbilt to three postseason appearances – one NCAA Tournament, two NIT appearances. As a junior, Strong led the SEC and established a Vanderbilt single-season record in steals (77). He ranks fourth on the Commodores’ career steals list (209) and served as Team Captain as a senior.

Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, Strong earned a Bachelor’s degree in human and organizational development from Vanderbilt in 2000.

Steven Boero
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