Russ Willemsen is entering his fourth season as assistant coach at South Alabama after joining the staff in August 2013.
Willemsen spent the previous eight seasons at Tennessee Tech.
He has spearheaded the program’s efforts on social media and directs the team’s Instagram account, where he created #jagWEARwednesday, which encourages Jaguar fans to post pictures of themselves wearing South Alabama apparel.
His work on the court helped Ken Williams earn all-Sun Belt Conference honors in 2015 after averaging 15.7 points and 2.6 3-pointers per game, ranking eighth and second in the league, respectively. In Sun Belt games, Williams was fourth in the conference with 18.0 points per game and hit a league-best 2.8 treys per outing.
Williams followed that up with a third-team nod in 2016, and Georgi Boyanov jumped from 6.0 to 10.4 points per game — second-best on the team — and paced the Jaguars with 7.4 rebounds per contest, fifth in the conference.
During Willemsen’s tenure at the Cookeville, Tenn. school, the Golden Eagles won 19 or more in a season four times, including 20 in the 2010-11 campaign that ended with an appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. TTU racked up 19 wins in the following season to earn back-to-back invites from the CIT.
His first two years on staff ended with a total of 38 wins as Tennessee Tech claimed 19 victories in each of the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons and went a combined 26-14 (.650 win percentage) in Ohio Valley Conference play to finish third and tied for third, respectively, in the league.
While on staff he coached 12 All-OVC performers, including one NBA draft pick (Kevin Murphy) and two others that landed on NBA Summer League rosters. The Golden Eagles also had four named to the OVC All-Tournament Team with Murphy receiving consecutive nods.
In addition to his on-court duties, Willemsen served as camp director and oversaw the team’s academic progress. His work helped the program to the 2007 and 2008 OVC Academic Achievement Award.
He spent his first season at Tech as the director of basketball operations where he coordinated team travel, produced recruiting materials and coordinated film exchange.
Willemsen got his start in the coaching profession as an undergrad at his alma mater, Lee (Tenn.) University. He served on the staff for four seasons as a student-assistant before moving into a part-time role in 2004-05. The Flames had six players named to NAIA All-America teams and advanced to the round of 16 and quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament during his five seasons.
Off the court he was responsible for the program’s community service projects—including public speaking engagements—and summer camps and oversaw the team’s managers as an assistant.
A regular contributor to CollegeChalktalk.com, Willemsen also wrote the introductory article for the web site’s series on John Wooden, Pyramid Tribute: In Memory of John Wooden. He has also written articles for BasketballHQ.com.
Willemsen has a 2004 bachelor’s degree in physical education and history education from Lee and he earned a master’s in instructional leadership in 2007 at Tennessee Tech. He and his wife Sarah reside in Mobile.
