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Ron Hunter

American basketball coach (born 1964)

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Ronald Eugene Hunter (born April 7, 1964) is an American college basketball coach and the men's basketball head coach of the Tulane University Green Wave. His son, R. J. Hunter, was a first-round NBA draft pick for the Boston Celtics.

01High school

Hunter attended and played for Chaminade Julienne High School in Dayton, Ohio from 1978 to 1982.

02Coaching career

IUPUI

From 1994 to 2011, Hunter served as the head coach at IUPUI. Under his direction, the team advanced from an NAIA program to NCAA Division I. In its third season as a Division I program, Hunter led IUPUI to its first, and thus far only, NCAA tournament appearance in 2003. On January 24, 2008, Hunter coached a game against Oakland University while barefoot. He did this to benefit Samaritan's Feet, a foundation that works to provide hope and love to impoverished children around the world by washing their feet and giving them a new pair of shoes. His goal was to collect 40,000 shoes; however, before tip-off, over 110,000 pairs of shoes had been donated.

Georgia State

On March 21, 2011, it was announced Hunter would replace Rod Barnes as the Georgia State Panthers' men's basketball head coach. During his first season at GSU, Georgia State won 22 games, the fourth most in school history.

Hunter captured national attention for a moment that occurred in the 2015 NCAA tournament. After tearing his Achilles celebrating the Panthers' Sun Belt Conference tournament championship, he was forced to coach their subsequent NCAA appearance while sitting on a rolling stool due to his injury. In their first-round game against the three seed, Baylor, Hunter's son R. J. hit a deep, game-winning three with seconds left on the clock. When the shot went in, Hunter's stool slipped out from underneath him while exuberantly celebrating, sending him tumbling to the floor while continuing to display his jubilation. The moment spurred a torrent of media attention and resulted in multiple features, interviews, and a spot in 'One Shining Moment' at the conclusion of the tournament.

On November 20, 2017, in a win over Eastern Washington, Hunter earned his 400th career win.

Ron Hunter has played a key role in the ongoing transformation of the athletics culture at Georgia State, particularly with the basketball program and their continuing ascension from being one of the most unsuccessful programs in NCAA Division I history to being one of the premier Mid-Major programs in the nation. Some of Ron Hunter's most notable wins as head of coach of Georgia State are: VCU (2011), #16 Baylor (2015), Georgia (2018) and Alabama (2018). Hunter also notched a win against crosstown foe, Georgia Tech, in a 2017 charity exhibition known as the 'A-Town Showdown for Hurricane Relief'.

Tulane

On March 24, 2019, Hunter was named the head coach at Tulane, replacing Mike Dunleavy.

03Head coaching record

Record table
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
IUPUI Jaguars (NAIA Independent) (1994-1998)
1994-95 IUPUI 16-13
1995-96 IUPUI 22-7
1996-97 IUPUI 16-11
1997-98 IUPUI 17-9
IUPUI Jaguars (Mid-Continent Conference/The Summit League) (1998-2011)
1998-99 IUPUI 11-166-86th
1999-2000 IUPUI 7-214-128th
2000-01 IUPUI 11-186-106th
2001-02 IUPUI 15-156-86th
2002-03 IUPUI 20-1410-42ndNCAA Division I Round of 64
2003-04 IUPUI 3-11*2-6*2nd
2004-05 IUPUI 16-139-74th
2005-06 IUPUI 19-1013-3T-1st
2006-07 IUPUI 15-157-74th
2007-08 IUPUI 26-715-32nd
2008-09 IUPUI 16-149-94th
2009-10 IUPUI 25-1115-32ndCBI Quarterfinals
2010-11 IUPUI 19-1412-63rd
IUPUI: 274-219 (.556)114-86 (.570)
Georgia State Panthers (Colonial Athletic Association) (2011-2013)
2011-12 Georgia State 22-1211-75thCIT Second round
2012-13 Georgia State 15-1610-85th
Georgia State Panthers (Sun Belt Conference) (2013-2019)
2013-14 Georgia State 25-917-11stNIT first round
2014-15 Georgia State 25-1015-51stNCAA Division I Round of 32
2015-16 Georgia State 16-149-116th
2016-17 Georgia State 20-1312-62ndCIT first round
2017-18 Georgia State 24-1112-62ndNCAA Division I Round of 64
2018-19 Georgia State 24-1013-51stNCAA Division I Round of 64
Georgia State: 171-95 (.643)99-49 (.669)
Tulane Green Wave (American Athletic Conference) (2019-present)
2019-20 Tulane 12-184-1412th
2020-21 Tulane 10-134-1210th
2021-22 Tulane 14-1510-85th
2022-23 Tulane 20-1112-63rd
2023-24 Tulane 14-175-13T-10th
2024-25 Tulane 19-1512-64thCBC First Round
2025-26 Tulane 18-158-10T-8th
2026-27 Tulane 0-00-0
Tulane: 107-104 (.507)55-69 (.444)
Total:552-418 (.569)

      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

*18 wins (including 8 conference wins) vacated by NCAA

04Personal life

Hunter and his wife, Amy, have two children: Jasmine and Ronald (R. J.).

Watch videos about Ron HunterExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Ron Hunter, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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