James A. Ferry Jr. (born July 9, 1967) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the UMBC Retrievers men's basketball team. He formerly served as interim head coach for the 2020–2021 season at Penn State and the head men's basketball coach at Duquesne, Long Island, Adelphi, and Plymouth State.

Playing career

Ferry played one season at NYIT before transferring to Keene State College for his final three years where he led the Owls in scoring his junior year.

Coaching career

After graduation, Ferry stayed on as an assistant coach with his alma mater for one season before joining Bentley as an assistant coach from 1991 to 1998. He'd accept his first head coaching job, a single season at Division III Plymouth State, guiding the Panthers to the 1999 Little East Conference regular season title. Ferry moved on to Division II Adelphi, where he stayed for three seasons, making three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including two Elite Eights. He also guided the Panthers to 30-straight wins during the 2000–01 season. In 2002, Ferry would be named the head coach at LIU Brooklyn, where he'd stay for 10 seasons, earning a pair of Northeast Conference regular season and tournament titles plus back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2011 and 2012.

Ferry would accept the head coaching position at Duquesne in 2012 where he'd coach for five seasons before being fired with a 60–97 overall record. Ferry would subsequently join Pat Chambers' staff at Penn State in 2017 and was part of the program's 2018 NIT Championship squad. Following the resignation of Chambers on October 21, 2020, Ferry was named interim head coach at Penn State for the remainder of the season, putting together an 11–14 record. Ferry would not be retained by Penn State, which chose to hire Micah Shrewsberry as its permanent head coach.

On April 12, 2021, Ferry was named the head coach at UMBC, replacing Ryan Odom who departed for the head coaching position at Utah State.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Plymouth State Panthers (Little East Conference) (1998–1999)
1998–99Plymouth State22–811–3T–1stECAC Runner-up
Plymouth State:22–8 (.733)11–3 (.786)
Adelphi Panthers (East Coast Conference) (1999–2002)
1999–00Adelphi23–7NCAA Division II Regional Final
2000–01Adelphi31–1NCAA Division II Quarterfinal
2001–02Adelphi28–3NCAA Division II Quarterfinal
Adelphi:82–11 (.882)
Long Island Blackbirds (Northeast Conference) (2002–2012)
2002–03Long Island9–197–11T–8th
2003–04Long Island8–194–1411th
2004–05Long Island14–1510–84th
2005–06Long Island12–169–96th
2006–07Long Island10–196–1210th
2007–08Long Island15–157–117th
2008–09Long Island16–1412–6T–2nd
2009–10Long Island14–1711–74th
2010–11Long Island27–616–21stNCAA Division I Round of 64
2011–12Long Island25–916–21stNCAA Division I Round of 64
Long Island:150–149 (.502)98–82 (.544)
Duquesne Dukes (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2012–2017)
2012–13Duquesne8–221–1516th
2013–14Duquesne13–175–11T–10th
2014–15Duquesne12–196–1211th
2015–16Duquesne17–176–12T–10thCBI Quarterfinal
2016–17Duquesne10–223–1514th
Duquesne:60–97 (.382)21–65 (.244)
Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten Conference) (2020–2021)
2020–21Penn State11–147–12T–10th
Penn State:11–14 (.440)7–12 (.368)
UMBC Retrievers (America East Conference) (2021–present)
2021–22UMBC18–1411–72ndTBC First Round
2022–23UMBC18–148–8T–4th
2023–24UMBC11–216–107th
2024–25UMBC13–195–118th
2025–26UMBC24–914–21stNCAA Division I First Four
UMBC:84–77 (.522)44–38 (.537)
Total:409–356 (.535)
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

External links