63 Facts About Tommy Amaker

Tommy Amaker has coached for the University of Michigan and Seton Hall University.

Tommy Amaker played point guard and later served as an assistant coach at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski.

An All-American player, Amaker set numerous records and earned many honors and awards.

Tommy Amaker took Seton Hall to the post season in each of his four seasons as their coach, helped Michigan win the National Invitation Tournament the year after a probationary ban from postseason play, and had the three highest single-season win totals in the history of Harvard basketball, the school's first six Ivy League championships and first NCAA tournament victory.

Tommy Amaker led the Woodson Cavaliers to four straight Northern District titles, including victories over the national powerhouse DeMatha Catholic High School.

Tommy Amaker averaged almost 18 points, and contributed 7.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game while at Woodson.

Tommy Amaker set the Atlantic Coast Conference single-season games played and games started records.

Tommy Amaker was an assistant coach for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball under Krzyzewski for nine seasons.

Tommy Amaker became the winningest coach in school history in 2016.

Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia, because his mother, Alma Tommy Amaker, was a high school English teacher in Fairfax County.

Tommy Amaker's job allowed her to choose among the county schools, her choice made because the school's basketball coach, Red Jenkins, who called Amaker "T-bird", had been impressed with his performances at his youth summer league since Amaker was 10 years old.

Tommy Amaker was recruited eventually to Duke by assistant coach Chuck Swenson, who would later become an assistant coach during Amaker's first five seasons at Michigan from 2001 to 2006.

Tommy Amaker played on the 1983 McDonald's All-American Team and was named to the Parade All-American team.

Tommy Amaker was a star point guard at Duke after becoming a freshman starter for head coach Krzyzewski.

Tommy Amaker led the team in assists three years and in steals four seasons.

Tommy Amaker led Duke to the NCAA Tournament during his 1984 freshman and 1985 sophomore seasons, but neither team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

In some instances, Tommy Amaker's defense changed the game by limiting dribble penetration and forcing low shooting percentages regardless of whether he had notable offensive contributions.

That year, Tommy Amaker recorded 81 steals, second to Jim Spanarkel at that point in Duke history.

Tommy Amaker set the career steals record, which stood until Shane Battier broke it in 2001.

Tommy Amaker holds the Duke single-year NCAA tournament record with 18 steals in 1986, which had been a tournament record.

Tommy Amaker was selected to the 1986 Division I basketball tournament all-NCAA Final Four team.

That year, Tommy Amaker was a spokesman against drug and alcohol abuse as part of an NCAA-Fiesta Bowl drug education television program.

Tommy Amaker played in at least two games in the tournament, the first for a mere two minutes against Puerto Rico, but he played a prominent role in the USA's win over Italy.

Tommy Amaker won a gold medal while serving on the US national team in the FIBA World Championship, which served as the basketball tournament for the 1986 Goodwill Games.

Tommy Amaker was selected to the 1987 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American third team by the NABC.

Tommy Amaker was named to the 1987 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament All-Midwest Regional Team.

Tommy Amaker was a 1987 All-ACC 2nd-team honoree and earned the team co-MVP award with Ferry that year.

Tommy Amaker earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1987 from Duke.

Tommy Amaker held the record for single-season assists in the years between 1986 and 1990, which was broken by Bobby Hurley.

Tommy Amaker held Duke's career NCAA tournament assist average record with 57 in 12 games for a 4.7 average until Hurley surpassed it with 145 in 20 games for a 7.3 average.

Tommy Amaker holds several Duke and ACC records for games played.

Tommy Amaker's 138 consecutive games played was a Duke record until Chris Duhon played 144 in a row ending in 2004.

Tommy Amaker was drafted in the first round of the April 1987 United States Basketball League's draft by the Staten Island Stallions.

Tommy Amaker was regarded to be too small to play in the NBA at 6 feet and 155 pounds.

Tommy Amaker was cut from the SuperSonics team on October 21,1987.

Tommy Amaker quickly decided he wanted to return to Duke to pursue a Master of Business Administration.

Tommy Amaker accepted a graduate assistant position on Krzyzewski's staff at Duke in 1988 while pursuing his MBA degree from the Fuqua School of Business; the team reached the Final Four of the 1989 NCAA tournament.

Tommy Amaker was an assistant coach from 1989 through 1997, during which Duke won two NCAA Championships and made two other Final Four appearances.

Tommy Amaker eventually relinquished control of the team for the season to interim coach Pete Gaudet.

In 1995, USC was in negotiations to hire Tommy Amaker to replace interim coach Charlie Parker, who replaced George Raveling following a car accident.

The reason his negotiations with USC failed was compensation since Tommy Amaker was both a Duke assistant coach and earned an additional $100,000 through a summer youth day camp.

In 1996, Tommy Amaker was rumored to be on the short list to replace interim coach Steve Lavin at UCLA in 1997.

In 1997, Tommy Amaker took the head coaching position at Seton Hall, who had missed the post season in the two prior years.

At 31, Tommy Amaker became the youngest head basketball coach in Big East Conference history.

Tommy Amaker met with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin in a hotel lobby instead of renting a room because Martin wanted to save money.

Tommy Amaker inherited a Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team that was five years into the investigation of the University of Michigan basketball scandal.

Tommy Amaker, who has tended to avoid the spotlight, was not on the court as his team celebrated the college basketball tradition of cutting of the nets in celebration of a championship at the 2004 NIT.

Tommy Amaker was credited for helping to restore the ethical reputation of a Michigan program which had been tarnished by scandal.

On March 17,2007, Tommy Amaker was fired by the University of Michigan.

Tommy Amaker was paid $900,000 to buy out the remaining years on his contract.

Tommy Amaker became the only African American among the head coaches of Harvard's 32 athletic teams.

Tommy Amaker was mentioned for the 2010 head coach opening at St John's.

Tommy Amaker was again a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award, was a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award and was selected by the NABC as the District 13 Coach of the Year.

Tommy Amaker was named Ivy League coach of the year by Collegeinsider.

Tommy Amaker won the NABC Coach of the Year for District 13 and was again a finalist for both the Ben Jobe Award and the Hugh Durham Award.

On October 6,2012, Tommy Amaker was inducted into his high school's inaugural hall of fame class.

Tommy Amaker won the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Clarence "Big House" Gaines College Basketball Coach of the Year in Division I as the top minority coach, the NABC Coach of the Year for District 13 and was again a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award.

Tommy Amaker is married to Stephanie Pinder-Tommy Amaker, who is a licensed clinical psychologist.

Tommy Amaker is known for his trademark mock turtleneck shirts, each of which has his initials monogrammed into the collar, and for wearing a sports coat at each news conference.

Unlike most of his peers, Tommy Amaker avoids the press and will not do a radio or television show.

Tommy Amaker was enshrined in the Duke Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.

Tommy Amaker was a member of the board of directors for USA Basketball.

Tommy Amaker owns two vintage Mercedes-Benz cars, which were featured in an article in The Star Magazine, and is a Washington Commanders fan.