College Basketball: Joe Scott named Air Force Academy head coach for a second time

Joe Scott is returning to the place where he probably had his most memorable season in his 16 previous seasons as a collegiate men’s basketball head coach.

The former Toms River High School East three-sport star was named the head coach at the Air Force Academy for a second time, Air Force athletic director Nathan Pine said Tuesday.

Scott was the head coach at Air Force for four seasons from 2000-2004. The Falcons had not had a winning season in 22 years before he took over.

In his final season. The Falcons went 22-7, earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in 42 seasons, were ranked in the top 25 in the nation, won the Mountain West regular season championship and recorded a then-school record for wins.

"I would like to thank Nathan Pine for the opportunity to return to the Academy, as we pursue our common goal of re-energizing Air Force basketball,’’ Scott said in a statement.

“My wife Leah, our two sons, Ben and Jack, and I are extremely grateful and excited to be returning. The Academy is a special place and we loved our time here."

Scott, who was an assistant coach at the University of Georgia under former Indiana University head coach Tom Crean the last two seasons, succeeds Dave Pilipovich. Air Force and Pilipovich parted ways earlier this month after eight seasons. Air Force went 12-20 this past season.

Related: Rutgers basketball: Cliff Omoruyi, star Roselle Catholic center, commits in breakthrough

After his first stint at Air Force, Scott was the head coach at his collegiate alma mater – Princeton University – for three seasons - and then the head coach at the University of Denver for nine seasons.

Scott's Princeton teams had one winning season and his Denver teams had five winning seasons, including 2013 when it went 22-10, tied for the Western Athletic Conference regular season championship and earned a berth to the National Invitation (NIT) Tournament. Denver was 4-25 the season before Scott took over and the 22 wins in 2013 was a school record.

Related: Coronavirus in NJ: NCAA basketball recruiting shutdown impacting high school players

Scott was an assistant coach at Monmouth University under former Hawks’ head coach Wayne Szoke in 1992 and then an assistant coach at Princeton under first legendary head coach Pete Carril and then head coach Bill Carmody before he became Air Force’s head coach.

He was an assistant coach for two seasons at Holy Cross under Carmody before he moved to Georgia.

Scott was a basketball, football and baseball star at Toms River East from 1980-83 and graduated as the Raiders’ all-time leading scorer with 1,550 points.

He then played collegiate basketball at Princeton.

Steven Falk covers scholastic football, wrestling and baseball for app.com and is a life-long resident of the Shore area who loves the rich history of sports in the Shore area. 732-643-4267; sfalk@gannettnj.com