Newberry hires former conference rival coach to lead men’s basketball team
It took Newberry College just longer than a weekend to find its new men’s basketball coach, as athletic director Ralph Patterson announced Tuesday that he has hired coach Jason Taylor to take over the program.
Taylor replaces departed coach Dave Davis, who took a job as an assistant coach at Winthrop this past Friday.
Taylor has spent the last four seasons at Tennessee Tech, the last two as the Golden Eagles’ associate head coach, helping guide the team to a pair of 19-win seasons.
Prior to that, Taylor spent nine years at Division II Anderson, where he led the Trojans to a 157-113 record and four NCAA tournament berths, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2011.
“I cannot begin to properly express how excited I am and what a blessing it is to be the next head coach at Newberry College,” Taylor said in a press release. “I want to thank (President Maurice Scherrens) for allowing me to have this opportunity and especially want to thank director of athletics Ralph Patterson for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. The leadership of those two along with the pride and passion everyone I met with and talked to has for Newberry College is what makes Newberry very special and makes me most excited.”
Taylor sent a school and conference record at Anderson in 2011-2012 by going 26-6 with a 17-1 mark in the South Atlantic Conference. He was named conference coach of the year for that season.
Taylor also has coaching experience at Roane State Community College in Tennessee, where he served as an assistant coach. He played college basketball at Jacksonville State University, graduating in 2001.
Davis leaves Newberry with seven winning seasons to his name and a record of 143-113, but the Wolves stumbled to a 10-18 mark this past season.
Davis’ teams were known for their offense, and the Wolves led the conference in scoring seven of the nine years he was there. Newberry had five of the six highest win totals in program history under Davis, including the program’s second 20-win season as an NCAA institution and a second-place league finish in 2014-15.
This story was originally published July 2, 2019 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Newberry hires former conference rival coach to lead men’s basketball team."
