Reggie Witherspoon, a Buffalo native and a 27-year veteran of the college basketball coaching ranks, was named the 24th head coach in Canisius College men’s basketball history on May 28, 2016.
In his seven previous seasons as head coach of the Golden Griffins, Witherspoon has guided the program to 94 wins, 65 of which have come in MAAC regular-season play, a share of the 2017-18 MAAC regular-season championship and a pair of national postseason appearances (CIT in 2016-17, CBI in 2017-18).
Entering the 2023-24 season, Witherspoon's 94 career victories at Canisius ranks him fifth in program history, and he needs just six more wins to become only the fifth Canisius head coach to record 100-or more career victories on Main Street. Additionally, he is fifth head coach in the program's 120-year history to hold the title of head coach for eight-or more years.
Since taking over the program prior to the start of the 2016-17 campaign, Witherspoon has guided the Golden Griffins to a winning record in MAAC play three times, highlighted by the 2017-18 squad which won a school-record 15 league games. He enters the 2023-24 campaign as the second-longest tenured MAAC head coach at his current school, trailing only Rider's Kevin Baggett in that category.
After the 2017-18 and 2018-19 regular seasons, Canisius traveled to the MAAC Men’s Basketball Championship as the No. 2 seed, and in 2019, the Blue and Gold earned a trip to the conference tournament’s semifinal round – just the third semifinal appearance for the program since 2001. Witherspoon earned his 250th career victory as a Division I head coach Feb. 22, 2019 after the Griffs used a late defensive stand to defeat Monmouth on the road by the score of 60-59.
In his second year at the helm of the program, Witherspoon led Canisius to a share of the 2017-18 MAAC regular-season championship, the program’s first since 1993-94. In that year, the Blue and Gold won 21 games and set the program record with 15 MAAC regular-season victories. That season, three Griffs earned All-MAAC accolades, highlighted by Jermaine Crumpton being named the 2017-18 MAAC Co-Player of the Year and Takal Molson earning MAAC Rookie of the Year honors. Crumpton, who went on to become just the fifth player in school history to earn Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention honors, is one of four players in school history to be named the MAAC’s Player of the Year. Molson became the first Buffalo, N.Y., native to earn the MAAC’s top rookie honor, and he is one of seven players in conference history to earn MAAC Rookie of the Year honors in the same season where his team won a regular-season or conference tournament title.
Witherspoon’s first season at Canisius (2016-17) saw the Griffs secure 18 wins, highlighted by a seven-game win streak that featured back-to-back overtime road wins over long-time rivals Buffalo and St. Bonaventure, and he guided the Golden Griffins to their fourth CIT appearance since 2013.
With a roster that featured five players signed after June 1, Witherspoon was able to become just the second coach in program history to earn a postseason berth in his first year in charge on Main Street. The seven-game win streak, which ran from Dec. 7 through Jan. 4, is the program’s longest since the 1998-99 season, and the Blue and Gold’s back-to-back overtime victories were the first for the team since the 1982-83 campaign. The second overtime victory – a 106-101 win at St. Bonaventure – stands as just the eighth victory for Canisius in 38 tries inside the Reilly Center, the Bonnies’ home court.
As a team, Canisius ended the 2016-17 season ranked eighth in the nation in total assists (601), sixth in assists per game average (17.7), 25th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.35), 40th in 3-point field goal makes per game (9.1) and 77th in 3-point field goal percentage (37.1 percent). The Griffs’ 601 total assists set a school record, as did the team’s 309 makes from behind the 3-point arc. Three Griffs earned All-MAAC honors under Witherspoon’s guidance in 2016-17, the first time three Canisius players earned all-league honors in the same season since 2006-07. Since taking over, 10 different Griffs have earned All-MAAC accolades, with Witherspoon recruiting eight of those players to Main Street.
Witherspoon spent the 2015-16 season at Chattanooga, where he was a member of Matt McCall’s coaching staff that led the Mocs to a 29-6 overall record, a Southern Conference regular-season championship, a SoCon tourney title and the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009. Prior to his time with Chattanooga, he spent one season at Alabama under former head coach Anthony Grant, who is currently the head coach at the University of Dayton. With the Crimson Tide in 2014-15, he was part of a staff that posted 19 overall wins and eight SEC victories en route to a berth into the NIT.
Witherspoon is best known in Western New York for his work building the basketball program at the University at Buffalo. A two-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year (2004, 2012), he led the Bulls from 1999-2013, where he posted a career record of 198-228 in 14 seasons. In addition, Buffalo boasted a record of 174-143 over Witherspoon’s last 10 years with the program, which featured a MAC regular-season crown, two trips to the MAC Tournament title game, an NIT berth, a bid to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and a pair of trips to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). In his time at Buffalo, Witherspoon led the Bulls to four 20-win seasons, highlighted by back-to-back 20-win campaigns in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Witherspoon, who as a student at Erie Community College played under former Canisius head coach John Beilein, mentored a pair of All-Americans at Buffalo in Turner Battle (2005) and Mitchell Watt (2012). Battle also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America Second-Team accolades under Witherspoon’s guidance. Both Battle (2005) and Watt (2012) were named the MAC Player of the Year, while Javone McCrea earned the conference’s Rookie of the Year honor in 2011. Additionally, former Bull Mark Bortz was the league’s top sixth man in 2005. In all, Witherspoon played a role in recruiting and coaching 18 All-MAC honorees.
In addition to winning basketball games and seeing his players earn accolades for their play on the court, Witherspoon’s student-athletes have been fantastic in the classroom as well. In his time as a head coach, 60 of 68 seniors have graduated, with 13 former players earning master’s degrees and three earning their doctorate degrees.
Witherspoon has also coached at the international level, as he has assisted with USA Basketball and the national under-18 team program on two occasions. In 2006, he worked with the USA U-18 tryout team that featured Blake Griffin, Michael Beasley, Jared Bayless and Kyle Singler. In 2010, he was an assistant coach under Jeff Capel and worked with Kyrie Irving, Austin Rivers and Patric Young.
Witherspoon took over as Buffalo’s interim head coach five games into the 1999-00 season after a two-year term as the head coach at Erie Community College. In his time leading the Kats, Witherspoon posted a 43-15 record. He was named the Western New York Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in both of those seasons at ECC, while producing four Division I signees, two All-Americans and one academic All-American. His 1998-99 squad at ECC went 24-5 en route to the NJCAA Regional III championship and a national ranking in the NJCAA top-20 poll. He was also named the Region III Coach of the Year that season.
Witherspoon took over at ECC after spending five years (1992-97) as the head coach at Sweet Home High School. There, his teams won four-straight division titles, which was the first, and to date, only time that has been accomplished in school history. He also became the first African-American head coach of a varsity sport program in any Western New York suburban school district when he took over the Panther program.
Born Phillip Reginald Witherspoon in February of 1961, he is a 1995 graduate of Empire State College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. He also earned his associate degree at Erie Community College where he was a member of the men’s basketball program. Witherspoon played basketball at Wheeling Jesuit for Jim O’Brien, who went on to be a head coach for the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Indiana Pacers.
In addition to his basketball accomplishments, Witherspoon has been acknowledged for his charitable work off the court as well. A Buffalo Business First Top-40 Under 40 honoree in 1996, he served as the chairman of the University State Employees Federal Appeal (SEFA) in 2006, where he helped spearhead a campaign that raised more than $900,000. He has also been honored with a service award from the Buffalo Boys & Girls Club (2001) while earning the 2006 National Conference for Community & Justice of Western New York Brother/Sisterhood Award.
Witherspoon and his wife, the former Dawn Taggart, have two daughters, Lydia and Rachel.
