ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH SHAWN FINNEY
Aiding with Experience Shawn Finney, who has five years of experience as a head coach in Conference USA, joined Donnie Jones’ staff at UCF as the associate head coach in April 2010. After spending the previous three campaigns working under Jones as an assistant at Marshall, Finney helped UCF achieve immediate success in 2010-11 as the Knights went 21-12 overall. The 20-win campaign was just the sixth for the program since the school joined the Division I ranks in 1984. After winning just 15 games the previous season, UCF went 13-0 in non-league play and won its first 14 contests to begin the year. The Knights recorded impressive non-league victories over 16th-ranked Florida, Miami, USF, UMass and Princeton. After knocking off Miami in late December, UCF entered the national rankings for the first time in program history. The Knights spent four total weeks in the rankings, including three weeks with a spot in both national polls. In C-USA play, UCF recorded key victories over UTEP and Southern Miss when both teams were atop the league standings.
Personal Hometown Mullens, W.Va. College Fairmont State, 1985
Coaching Career 2010-Present Associate Head Coach, UCF 2007-10 Assistant Coach, Marshall 2006-07 Director of Operations, Kentucky 2000-05 Head Coach, Tulane 1997-00 Assistant Coach, Kentucky 1995-97 Assistant Coach, Georgia 1990-95 Assistant Coach, Tulsa 1987-90 Assistant Coach, RandolphMacon 1986-87 Assistant Coach, Pikeville 1985-86 Assistant Coach, Garrett CC
Finney’s NBA Players Hassan Whiteside (Marshall), Linton Johnson (Tulane), Jamaal Magloire (Kentucky), Nazr Mohammed (Kentucky), Scott Padgett (Kentucky), Tayshaun Prince (Kentucky), Jeff Sheppard (Kentucky), Wayne Turner (Kentucky), Michael Bradley (Kentucky), Shandon Anderson (Georgia), Shea Seals (Tulsa)
Tayshaun Prince 8
In March, UCF was invited to participate in the College Basketball Invitational, marking the program’s first at-large appearance in the postseason. The Knights advanced to the 16-team event’s semifinals after defeating St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island. Finney helped a pair of UCF players receive individual honors from C-USA at the conclusion of the regular season. Marcus Jordan was an All-C-USA Second Team selection, and Keith Clanton was named to the all-league third team.
Rebuilding Project Finney, who was the head coach at Tulane from 2000-05, helped Jones rebuild the program at Marshall. The Mullens, W.Va., native helped the Thundering Herd to one of the top seasons in school history in 2009-10. Marshall went 24-10, including a program-best 11-5 mark in C-USA, and advanced to the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The appearance was the first trip to the postseason in 22 years for the school. Marshall attracted several highly-touted recruits during Finney’s tenure, including Hassan Whiteside, who led the country in blocks in 2009-10. He swatted 182 shots, the fourth-most in NCAA single-season history. Whiteside was named both the C-USA Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year, and garnered freshman All-America second team honors from The Sporting News. The post player was selected by Sacramento with the 33rd overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.
Guiding a Program During Finney’s time leading the Tulane program, every student-athlete he recruited graduated. He recruited and coached 2004-05 C-USA All-Freshman Team selection Taylor Rochestie. During the 2001-02 campaign, Finney led the Green Wave to big wins over Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. The following year, Tulane again knocked off the Yellow Jackets.
SEC Success Before accepting the job at Tulane, Finney was an assistant coach for Tubby Smith at Tulsa (1991-95), Georgia (1995-97) and Kentucky (1997-00). In all three of his campaigns at Kentucky, Finney helped the Wildcats advance to the NCAA Tournament, highlighted by the national title in 1998. The Wildcats went 35-4 that season. Finney mentored numerous future NBA players while at Kentucky, including Tayshaun Prince, Jammal Magloire and Nazr Mohammed. During his two seasons at Georgia, the Bulldogs went a combined 45-19 and made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. While working for Smith at Tulsa, Finney helped the Golden Hurricane claim Missouri Valley Conference titles and spots in the NCAA Tournament on two occasions. Tulsa advanced to the Sweet 16 during both trips to the Big Dance. After concluding his tenure at Tulane, Finney worked as a television analyst for ESPN and then served as the director of basketball operations at Kentucky in 2005-06.
Starting Out Finney started his coaching career at Garrett Community College in Maryland in 1985, before moving to Pikeville College in Kentucky for a year. From 1987-90, Finney served as an assistant at Randolph-Macon in Virginia. He graduated from Fairmont State in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and earned his master’s degree in sports management from Tulsa in 1992.