Vice President of Student Life, David Schmiesing, announced Joe Wallace as the new head men’s basketball coach at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Wallace is a Wheeling, West Virginia, native who is returning to the Ohio Valley after an extensive career in NCAA Division I athletics.
“I’m truly blessed to be joining the Franciscan University family,” said Wallace. “With its unwavering commitment to mission and identity, Franciscan University has created a strong national profile and I am excited to help purvey that same mission as the Baron’s head basketball coach.”
Schmiesing said Wallace combines almost a decade of basketball experience at the NCAA Division I level with “a passion for his faith and a desire to recruit and form his players to be faith-filled student-athletes. He’s a great fit for the Baron basketball team, and I’m excited about Joe coming back home to the Ohio Valley to coach the Barons.”
Most recently, Wallace served as the director of basketball operations at Division I San Jose State University in San Jose, California, where he oversaw all team travel and assisted with day-to-day opponent scouting and coaching.
During his time at SJSU, the Spartans increased their overall win total by seven from the previous season and their Mountain West win total by four.
Before joining San Jose State, Wallace was an assistant coach at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, for the 2013-14 season after serving as the director of basketball operations during the 2012-13 season. While with the Cougars, he helped transition the program into the Colonial Athletic Association. Wallace personally recruited the number 10 ranked player from the state of Ohio to play for Charleston and coached and mentored several current professional players including Willis Hall (Portugal), Anthony Thomas (Brazil), and Nori Johnson (Germany). As director of basketball operations, Wallace coached and developed Olympian Andrew Lawrence (Great Britain). He was instrumental in installing and managing a state-of-the-art XOS video editing system, which he used to create detailed opponent scouting reports for the Cougars.
Wallace began his collegiate coaching career under Doug Wojcik at the University of Tulsa in July 2006. He first joined the Golden Hurricane staff as the director of Player Development and graduate manager from 2006-2009 before becoming the director of Basketball Operations from 2010-2012. During his time at Tulsa, the Golden Hurricanes were CBI champions in 2008 and played in the NIT postseason tournament in 2009 and 2010.
Wallace coached and developed three NBA players at Tulsa, including Jordan Clarkson (Los Angeles Lakers), Ben Uzoh (New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers), and Jerome Jordan (New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors).
“My career has led me across the country and has afforded me the opportunities to work for and alongside some of the best coaches and people. For their support and encouragement, I will be eternally grateful,” said Wallace. “From coast to coast and places in between, my roots have never left this area and I’ve always called the Ohio Valley ‘home.’ My wife and I are ecstatic to have the opportunity to be near our families.”
Wallace earned a degree in social science in 2005 from West Liberty University where he was a two-year letter winner in football.
“While the Baron basketball program is still in its infant stages, we should not be taken lightly. We need to roll up our sleeves and bring passion to everything we do. We will come together as a unit that brings confidence and toughness to the court nightly. “I’m extremely motivated to prove this program can thrive in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference while forming student-athletes in faith, virtue, knowledge, and self control.”
http://franciscanathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20160711ml0pyc
