UMBC Director of Athletics Brian Barrio announced the hiring of Jim Ferry as UMBC’s new head men’s basketball coach. Ferry, the 10th head men’s basketball coach in school history, was introduced to the campus community and media on April 14.
Ferry comes to Baltimore after serving in 2020-21 as the interim head coach at Penn State University. This past season, Ferry led the Nittany Lions to an 11-14 overall mark and a 7-12 Big Ten record that included wins over NCAA Tournament teams No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 15 Virginia Tech, Rutgers, and Maryland (twice).
Ferry will be taking over a program that has experienced tremendous success in recent years, going 97-60 during the past five seasons under Coach Ryan Odom, including three straight 20 win seasons. During that span, the Retrievers have reached at least the America East semifinals four times, winning the conference title in 2018 en route to a historic win in the NCAA Tournament, becoming the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed against Virginia in a 74-54 victory. The Retrievers also reached the CIT Semifinals in 2017 and won a share of the America East Regular Season title this past winter.