High Point University President Nido R. Qubein announced the hiring of Flynn Clayman as the new men’s basketball head coach.
“As Associate Head Coach, Flynn Clayman has played a pivotal role in HPU’s recruiting and offensive success during the past 2 seasons,” President Qubein said. “Players appreciate his leadership, and his values align with the values of our university. We are excited to have him lead the men’s basketball program as Head Coach.”
Clayman becomes the 15th men’s basketball head coach in program history.
“Under the leadership of Dr. Qubein and Dan Hauser, and of course, Coach Huss, it has been a magical two years for High Point University in all sports, and specifically for me, our basketball program,” HPU Head Men’s Basketball Coach Flynn Clayman said. “I am unbelievably honored to have the opportunity to continue to lead this program in the right direction and focus on the God, Family, and Country values that this university stands on.”
“HPU Athletics is thrilled to announce Flynn Clayman as the new men’s basketball head coach,” HPU Vice President and Athletic Director Dan Hauser said. “Flynn has been instrumental in creating one of the top 5 nationally-ranked offenses in the country. His connections within the domestic and international recruiting space are outstanding. The championship success of High Point University basketball is here to stay under head coach Flynn Clayman. Go Panthers!”
Clayman spent the last two seasons as the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at High Point University and has helped compile and overall record of 56-15 with a 27-5 Big South record. Clayman helped lead the Panthers to their first ever-NCAA tournament appearance as the No. 13 seed and matched up against No. 4 seed Purdue. Clayman helped turn around an under .500 program and guided the Panthers to back-to-back outright Big South Regular Season titles for the first time in program history. High Point became the first team in the Big South since 2011 (Coastal Carolina) to win back-to-back outright regular season titles.
Clayman helped a Panther program post two back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in the DI era and the sixth 20-win season in program history. On the home court, the Panthers have protected the extraordinary Qubein Center with only three losses, posting a record of 31-3. In back-to-back seasons, the Panthers set the non-conference win record since becoming Division I in 1999, recording 11 wins in 2023-24 and 12 wins in 2024-25.
Clayman helped lead an offense than finished 3rd in the NCAA in KenPom rankings for raw offensive efficiency, trailing only Duke and Gonzaga, and ahead of 2025 NCAA National Champion Florida. Clayman directed the top two offenses in Big South history the past two seasons and has been a part of five straight twenty win seasons, the last three as Associate Head Coach. Clayman has been an assistant coach for 123 wins at High Point and Southern Utah the last five seasons, which is the 13th most in the country.
During the 2024-25 season, HPU finished with an overall record of 29-6, which ties for the most wins in Big South program history (Winthrop, 2006-07) and the most wins in HPU program history. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 26-5 record and a 14-2 league record. The 26 regular-season wins is the most in program history and tied the Big South regular-season wins record with Coastal Carolina’s 2010-11 season (26-4). The Panthers also set the best win percentage in Division I era with an 88-percent win percentage in conference play and an 84-percentage win percentage in the regular season.
Since cracking the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 on December 22, 2023, the Panthers have remained in the Top 25 for 34 consecutive weeks which ranks as the second longest streak in Big South history. High Point reached as high as No. 5 on February 5, 2024 and finished the 2024-25 regular season on March 17, 2025 ranked No. 8. High Point also received votes in the Associated Press poll four times during the 2024-25 season, receiving as many as four votes in the poll on March 3, 2025.
Prior to High Point University, Clayman was the Associate Head Coach at Southern Utah and spent six seasons at Southern Utah University. In the summer of 2022, Clayman was promoted to associate head coach after serving as the assistant coach from 2019-2022 and a special assistant from 2017-2019. Clayman recently finished out the 2022-23 season as the interim head coach where he led the Thunderbirds to a 2-1 record at the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) postseason tournament.
During the 2022-23 season, Clayman helped guide the Thunderbirds to a 24-13 record with a 12-6 record in the inaugural season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The team finished third overall in the WAC regular season, earning a No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. The Thunderbirds advanced to the conference championship game and finished as the runner-up. The Thunderbirds received a bid to the CBI postseason tournament as the No. 4 seed, and advanced to the CBI semifinals before getting knocked out by Eastern Kentucky in double overtime. For the third straight season, Southern Utah posted the programs highest NET and KenPom ranking with multiple weeks in Mid-Major Top-25.
In the summer of 2022, Clayman was named one of the “Most Impactful Assistant Coaches in Mid Major College Basketball” by Silver Waves Media. Prior to the 2021-2022 season, he was selected for the Big Sky Conference Big Sky U Aspiring Head Coaches development program, as selected by administrators across the conference.
Clayman played an integral role in the programs recruiting and player development, resulting in the programs first and only three First Team All-Big Sky players, Tevian Jones (2021 & 2023) and John Knight III (2022). Clayman’s additional responsibilities included game planning and academic liaison.
Prior to coaching at the collegiate level, Clayman was the AUSA Hoops head coach in Sydney, Australia from 2015-2017. He helped 30 players from Australia make it to NCAA Division I programs such as LSU, Creighton, Stanford, TCU, and USC among many other schools.
While still playing professionally, Clayman’s first coaching experience came as an assistant coach for BTI Basketball Club in the summer of 2015, an AAU club out of the Los Angeles, coaching former Utah Jazz Player, current OKC Thunder player, and 2019 Ivy League Player of the Year, Miye Oni.
Before diving into coaching, Clayman played professionally for four years overseas from 2012-2016, making stops at the Republic of Georgia, Brazil, and Israel. While playing with the Republic of Georgia, he was named the Eurobasket.com Rookie of the Year and an All-Star Selection. Clayman was amongst the top three in the Ecuadorian League in three-point field goals and points per game average.
Clayman started his collegiate career at Colorado State University and played under head coach Tim Miles from 2007-2009. He transferred to Troy University in 2009 where he played two seasons for 500-win head coach Don Maestri. In 2010, the Trojans won the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship and played in the NIT. He went on to play a final season (2011-12) at the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky where his team won the Mid-South Conference Championship and reached the National Tournament in Kansas City. During that season he led the NAIA in three-point field goal percentage at 48.1%.
Clayman earned his Bachelor of Social Science in 2016 and a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies in Sports Conditioning and Performance, Communications, and Leadership in 2022.
A native of Los Angeles, California, Clayman attended Venice High School where he played for two-time NBA champion assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, Rasheed Hazzard, who served under Phil Jackson. Flynn is married to HPU women’s basketball assistant coach Katie Clayman, and they have a son, Quinn.
