John Gordon Groce is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Akron Zips men's basketball team.
14 Facts About John Groce
2.
John Groce started his coaching career as an assistant with his alma mater, Taylor University, under Paul Patterson from 1993 to 1996.
3.
John Groce's next job was an assistant at North Carolina State under Herb Sendek from 1996 to 2000.
4.
John Groce then moved on to Butler as an assistant to Thad Matta and was there just one season.
5.
When Matta accepted the head coaching position at Xavier, John Groce went with him and served as an assistant from 2001 to 2004, before moving again with Matta when he was named as the head coach of Ohio State.
6.
John Groce served as an assistant from 2004 to 2008.
7.
John Groce was named the head coach at Ohio University on June 27,2008, replacing Tim O'Shea, who resigned to take the head coach position at Bryant University.
8.
John Groce finalized negotiations to become the men's basketball head coach at the University of Illinois on March 28,2012, after both Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens declined interest in the position.
9.
On March 11,2017, John Groce was relieved of his duties, two days after the Illini lost its Big Ten tournament opening-round game to Michigan.
10.
John Groce was eventually replaced by Oklahoma State head coach Brad Underwood.
11.
From 2013 to 2016, John Groce reversed Illinois' prior four-game losing streak in the annual Braggin' Rights interstate rivalry against Missouri by winning the contest for four straight seasons.
12.
In 2020, John Groce's Zips won the MAC regular season title, but were not able to participate in the postseason due to the COVID pandemic.
13.
John Groce took the Zips to the 2022 NCAA Tournament as a 13 seed where they lost in the First Round to 4th seeded UCLA.
14.
John Groce's brother is Travis Steele, the current head coach of Miami.