Tue Feb 18th, 2025

Jewish community in the United States: Three of the top five college basketball teams have Jewish coaches

Men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum, July 21, 2010. Photo: US Air Force photograph by Master Sgt. Kurt Skoglund, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.Men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum, July 21, 2010. Photo: US Air Force photograph by Master Sgt. Kurt Skoglund, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is an association of 1281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organize the majority of collegiate athletic programs in the United States of America. 

In the midst of the NCAA college basketball season, the Associated Press released its latest Top 25, which found that three of the top five men’s teams and one of the top women’s teams are led by Jewish coaches, marking a milestone for the American Jewish community in the sport.

In first place in the men's standings is Auburn, a team coached by Bruce Pearl, which has a 16-1 record and is atop the Southeastern Conference with nine consecutive victories. Pearl is a co-founder of the NCAA Jewish Coaches Association, and also coached in the Maccabiah Games.

The other two teams coached by Jewish coaches are Duke, under Jon Scheyer, and Florida, under Todd Golden. 

Duke is in third place with a 15-2 record and 11 straight wins, and its coach played professionally for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel and won the NCAA championship as a player. On the other hand, Golden has a 15-2 record, despite suffering a close loss to Missouri this week.

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