Sam Vincent

Personal information
Born	(1963-05-18) May 18, 1963 (age 61) Lansing, Michigan, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school	Eastern (Lansing, Michigan)
College	Michigan State (1981–1985)
NBA draft	1985: 1st round, 20th overall pick
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Playing career	1985–1994
Position	Point guard
Number	11, 14
Coaching career	1999–2016
Career history
As player:
1985–1987	Boston Celtics
1987–1988	Seattle SuperSonics
1988–1989	Chicago Bulls
1989–1992	Orlando Magic
1993–1994	Aris
As coach:
1999–2000	Gymnastikos S. Larissas
2000–2001	EiffelTowers Den Bosch
2001–2003	Mobile Revelers
2005–2006	Fort Worth Flyers
2006–2007	Dallas Mavericks (assistant)
2007–2008	Charlotte Bobcats
2008–2009	Anaheim Arsenal
2014–2016	Manama Club
Career highlights and awards
NBA champion (1986) Second-team All-American – NABC (1985) Third-team All-American – AP, UPI (1985) First-team Parade All-American (1981) Mr. Basketball of Michigan (1981) NBA D-League champion (2003)
Career NBA statistics
Points	3,106 (7.8 ppg)
Assists	1,543 (3.9 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

James Samuel Vincent (born May 18, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player and coach.

Vincent won the State of Michigan "Mr. Basketball" award in 1981, the first year the award was given. He attended Lansing's Eastern High School, where he scored 61 points in one game as a senior, breaking the previous city scoring record of 54 set by Magic Johnson at Everett High School.

A 6'2" point guard, Vincent followed in the footsteps of his older brother Jay Vincent, attending Michigan State University and earning Sporting News All-America honors in 1985. After graduating from college, he was selected by the Boston Celtics with the twentieth pick of the 1985 NBA draft. He played two seasons for the Celtics, winning an NBA Championship ring as a reserve in 1986, before joining the Seattle SuperSonics, who promptly traded him to the Chicago Bulls for Sedale Threatt. After one-and-a-half solid seasons with the Bulls, he was selected by the Orlando Magic in the 1989 NBA expansion draft, and he finished his NBA career with the Magic in 1992. His 1990-1991 NBA Hoops basketball card has gained fame due to having Michael Jordan in view wearing a #12 jersey, instead of his normal #23. Vincent scored 3,106 points and tallied 1,543 assists during his seven-year tenure in the league.

Shortly after retiring, Vincent worked at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Walt Disney World. During the late 1990s, he coached basketball in South Africa, and he has also coached in Greece, Netherlands, Nigeria, and the NBA Developmental League; he went to the league finals in the NBADL twice, winning once. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, he led the Nigerian women's basketball team to a 68–64 victory over South Korea, which was the first ever victory by an African nation in an Olympic women's basketball contest.

He was coach of the Fort Worth Flyers in the 2005–06 season. Shortly after coaching the Nigeria men's team to the second round of the 2006 FIBA World Championship (including a shocking upset of traditional power Serbia and Montenegro), he was hired as an assistant coach by the Dallas Mavericks.

On May 25, 2007, Vincent was introduced as the new head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA.^[1] On April 26, 2008, Vincent was relieved of his head coaching duties.^[2] Later that year, Vincent was named the head coach of the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBA Development League.

Vincent assumed coaching the D'Tigress at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He led the team to a 68–64 victory over South Korea, the victory was the first victory by an African side in the women's basketball event in the Olympics. In 2005, Sam Vincent led the Nigerian women's basketball team to their second tournament victory in the FIBA African Basketball Championship (Afrobasket).

Vincent returned as the team's head coach in 2017. He led the team to a 100 per cent performance in the 2017 FIBA African women's basketball tournament Afrobasket in Bamako, Mali. The team clinched their third Afrobasket title by defeating Senegal by 65–48 points in the final and consequently qualifying for the FIBA women's basketball World cup in Spain.^[3]

Vincent had his appointment as head coach of the Nigeria Women's Basketball Team terminated by the Nigeria Basketball Federation on Thursday, August 2 while the team was preparing for the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.^[4]

Vincent was appointed as head coach of the Bahrain National team replacing Serbian coach Darko Russo. This was after having coached the Riffa, Manama and Al-Ahli Manama clubs.^[5]

In September 2022, Vincent was named the first head coach of the men's and women's teams at Beacon College, a liberal arts school in Central Florida. ^[6]

• NBA.com coach profile
• Career statistics from NBA.com  and Basketball Reference