Introduction
Ray Harper (born (1961-10-11)October 11, 1961) is an American college basketball coach, currently head coach for Jacksonville State University. Previously, he was head coach at Oklahoma City University, Kentucky Wesleyan College, and Western Kentucky University. At Kentucky Wesleyan Harper compiled a 242–45 win-loss record.
He has been named the Division II National Coach of the Year seven times and won two national titles at Kentucky Wesleyan in 1999 and 2001.
Harper was named interim head coach at Western Kentucky on January 6, 2012 after Ken McDonald was fired. He was named permanent head coach on February 19, 2012 by then-athletic director Ross Bjork. He resigned from the position on March 17th, 2016.Harper was subsequently hired at Jacksonville State on April 6, 2016.
Born in Greenville, Kentucky and a native of Bremen, Kentucky, Harper played collegiately at the University of Texas as a freshman and at Kentucky Wesleyan, during his sophomore-senior seasons, where he was named third team NABC All-American as a senior in 1985.
He is married to Shannon Harper, a WKU alumna.
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers (Great Lakes Valley Conference) (1996–2005) | |||||||||
| 1996–97 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 21–8 | 14–6 | 5th | |||||
| 1997–98 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 30–3 | 17–2 | 1st | NCAA Division II runner-up | ||||
| 1998–99 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 35–2 | 20–2 | 1st | NCAA Division II Champion | ||||
| 1999–00 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 31–3 | 18–2 | 1st | NCAA Division II runner-up | ||||
| 2000–01 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 30–3 | 17–3 | 2nd | NCAA Division II Champion | ||||
| 2001–02 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 31–3 | 19–1 | 1st | NCAA Division II runner-up | ||||
| 2002–03 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 26–3* | 18–2* | 1st* | NCAA Division II runner-up* | ||||
| 2003–04 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 22–8* | 14–6* | 3rd* | NCAA Division II First Round* | ||||
| 2004–05 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 15–12 | 9–11 | 6th | |||||
| Kentucky Wesleyan: | 242–45* (.840) | 146–35* (.807) | |||||||
| Oklahoma City Stars (Sooner Athletic Conference) (2005–2008) | |||||||||
| 2005–06 | Oklahoma City | 29–8 | 16–2 | 1st | NAIA runner-up | ||||
| 2006–07 | Oklahoma City | 35–2 | 17–1 | 1st | NAIA Champions | ||||
| 2007–08 | Oklahoma City | 31–7 | 18–4 | 1st | NAIA Champions | ||||
| Oklahoma City: | 95–17 (.848) | 51–7 (.879) | |||||||
| Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (Sun Belt Conference) (2012–2014) | |||||||||
| 2011–12 | Western Kentucky | 11–8 | 6–7 | 3rd (East) | NCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| 2012–13 | Western Kentucky | 20–15 | 10–10 | 4th (East) | NCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| 2013–14 | Western Kentucky | 21–11 | 12–6 | 2nd | |||||
| Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (Conference USA) (2014–present) | |||||||||
| 2014–15 | Western Kentucky | 20–12 | 12–6 | T–4th | |||||
| 2015–16 | Western Kentucky | 18–16 | 8–10 | 8th | |||||
| Western Kentucky: | 90–62 (.592) | 48–39 (.552) | |||||||
| Jacksonville State Gamecocks (Ohio Valley Conference) (2016–present) | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | Jacksonville State | 9-7 | 2–0 | ||||||
| Jacksonville State: | 9-7 (.643) | 2–0 (1.000) | |||||||
| Total: | 453–129 (.778) | ||||||||
| National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
* 20 wins and 5 losses were vacated from the 2003–04 season and for the 2002–03 season; the school had to vacate the NCAA Division II runner-up and conference regular season championship.