Brian Francis Gregory is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at South Florida. He was previously serving as a consultant to Tom Izzo at Michigan State after being let go as head coach with Georgia Tech. Prior to coaching at Georgia Tech, he was the head coach at Dayton and an assistant coach under Izzo at Michigan State.
Gregory was an assistant at Michigan State for five years, from 1999 to 2003, under head coach Tom Izzo. During that time, the Spartans reached the Final Four three times and won the 2000 national title.
Dayton
On April 9, 2003, Gregory was named the head basketball coach of the Dayton Flyers. As Flyers head coach, he led the team to the 2004 and the 2009 NCAA Tournament as well as the 2008 National Invitation Tournament. On January 14, 2008, Gregory led the Dayton Flyers to a top-14 ranking in the AP poll. This was the highest ranking for Dayton in 40 years. He capped off the 2009–10 season by leading the Flyers to the 2010 NIT championship over North Carolina. Gregory had a 172–94 record with the Flyers over eight seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances.
Georgia Tech
On March 28, 2011, it was announced that Gregory would become the 13th head coach at Georgia Tech replacing Paul Hewitt. Gregory struggled at Georgia Tech, only finishing above.500 two times. He failed to make a postseason appearance in his first four years at Georgia Tech. On March 16, 2015, Georgia Tech announced that Gregory would continue as head basketball coach for another year, despite the fact he had had a conference finish higher than ninth. In the 2015–16 season, Georgia Tech improved, finishing the season 21–15 and did receive a bid to the National Invitation Tournament, their first postseason trip under Gregory. The Yellow Jackets won two games before losing in the quarterfinals. After a 5th consecutive losing record in the ACC, Georgia Tech Athletic Director Mike Bobinski announced on March 25, 2016 that Gregory would not return for the 2016–17 season. His record was 76–86 overall and 27–61 in ACC play. Gregory would serve as a consultant to his old head coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State during the 2016–17 season.
South Florida
On March 14, 2017, Gregory was hired as head coach at South Florida to replace Orlando Antigua. Quickly, he helped the Bulls turn into a contender in the American Athletic Conference. USF went 10-22 in Gregory's first season, which was the first time the program posted ten wins since the 2014-15 season - the first of the Antigua era. It posted a 7-11 record at the Yuengling Center, but struggled away from home, collecting just three wins away from Tampa. The Bulls finished 3-15 in AAC play, last in the conference and was a first-round exit in the 2018 conference tournament. Gregory welcomed nine new players to the program for the 2018-19 season. USF also was benefitted by Gardner–Webb transfer Laquincy Rideau, who came off a redshirt season in 2017-18 and Alexis Yetna's addition to the hardwood. It started the season 10-2 through non-conference play before going 8-10 in AAC play. Under Gregory's eye, Rideau earned an AAC Defensive Player of the Year honor, while Yetna was named the league's Freshman of the Year for their efforts during the regular season. Although it was bounced in the first round of the conference tournament yet again, this time by UConn, USF received a bid to play in the College Basketball Invitational, the third tier postseason college basketball tournament. The Bulls came back from a 25-point deficit to defeat Stony Brook in the first round before defeating Utah Valley and Loyola Marymount to reach the CBI finals. In a three-game series against DePaul, the Bulls took two-of-three to win the tournament. Sophomore guard David Collins was named as the tournament's MVP. In the process, USF finished 24-14 and had the largest improvement among NCAA Division I teams. Three Bulls - Rideau, Collins and Yetna - were named preseason all-conference selections before the 2019-20 season.
