John Groce Named Head Coach of Charleston Men's Basketball
Groce becomes the 26th head coach in program history and ninth in the Division I era.
John Groce has agreed to a five-year contract as the head men’s basketball coach at the College of Charleston, director of athletics Matt Roberts announced Monday. Groce becomes the 26th head coach in program history and ninth in the Division I era.
“John Groce is one of the most decorated head coaches in the country.” says Roberts. “He and his staff made a tremendous impact on the Akron community during their nine seasons at the helm. The winning speaks for itself but his leadership of men and his passion for people is what impresses us the most.
“We are excited to welcome John, his wife Allison and their three children Conner, Camden and Cate to the Charleston community. It’s a great day to be a Cougar!”
Groce comes to Charleston after nine seasons as the head coach at the University of Akron, where he led the Zips to three straight Mid-American Conference Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. Boasting a 379-226 career record, Groce led the 2025-26 Zips to 25-5 overall record and 17-1 conference record.
Groce has earned several national accolades throughout his career, including the 2025 Hugh Durham National Mid-Major Coach of the Year, 2025 and 2020 MAC Coach of the Year and 2020 NABC District Coach of the Year.
During his entire 29-year Division I career, Groce has coached programs to 13 NCAA tournament appearances (seven as a head coach), a National Runner-up, an Elite 8, an NCAA Sweet 16 and seven Round of 32 appearances along with seven regular season conference championships and 10 conference tournament titles.
Prior to coaching the Zips, Groce was the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Illinois for five seasons. During his time at Illinois, he led the Illini to an average of 19 wins per season along with postseason appearances in four of his five years.
He arrived at Illinois after four seasons as head coach at Ohio University, where he led the Bobcats to an 85-56 overall record as well as MAC Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2010 and a Sweet 16 run in 2012.
Groce earned his first head coaching job at Ohio following four seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at Ohio State. The Buckeyes went 105-35, advanced to the NCAA Championship game in 2007 and second round in 2006, claimed back-to-back outright Big Ten Championships in 2006 and 2007 and won the NIT in 2008.
He also had coaching stops at Xavier, Butler, N.C. State and Taylor.
A Danville, Indiana, native, Groce graduated from Taylor University with a degree in mathematics. He and his wife Allison have three children: Connor, Camden and Cate.
He will be formally introduced to the Charleston community on April 1 at 2 p.m. in the TD Arena practice gym located on George Street.
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This story was provided by College of Charleston Athletics.
