J.D. Powell recently completed his fifth year overall with the College of Charleston men’s basketball program and has been promoted to Associate Head Coach as announced by Head Coach Earl Grant on Thursday.
“J.D. has been a valuable member of our program over the past five years,” Grant said. “He is a terrific coach and has worked extremely hard to help move Charleston Basketball forward. I’m excited to see his continual impact on our program for years to come.”
With 20 years of basketball experience, Powell has been involved in every aspect of rebuilding the storied program at The College since joining Grant’s staff in 2014. The Cougars went from winning just nine games in 2014-15 to 92 games over the next four seasons. A key component to that success has been the development of players including nine all-conference honorees. Retention has also been a cornerstone of the team’s success with 19 graduates and only three transfers.
This past season, the Cougars posted a 24-9 overall record with non-conference victories over Rhode Island, VCU and Memphis. Two players – Grant Riller and Jarrell Brantley – were named to the All-CAA First Team. Known for their defense, the Cougars led the CAA in scoring defense for the fourth-straight year holding opponents to 68.6 points per game. CofC also ranked No. 17 in the nation in turnovers per game (10.5 avg.) and No. 16 in free-throw percentage (76.4%).
In 2018-19, the Cougars made a memorable run that included the program’s second-straight 25-win campaign, an impressive 26-8 overall record and 14-4 mark in Colonial Athletic Association play. The co-regular-season champions earned the No. 1 seed in the CAA Men’s Basketball Championship and defeated No. 2 seed Northeastern in an overtime thriller to punch the program’s first ticket to the NCAA Tournament since 1999.
During his first year as an assistant coach, CofC compiled a 25-10 overall record, reached the CAA Tournament championship game and earned a Postseason NIT berth in 2016-17.
Powell previously served two years as director of men’s basketball operations for the Cougars, who went a much-improved 17-14 overall in head coach Earl Grant’s second year at the helm of the program in 2015-16. They also finished the season ranked No. 8 in the nation in scoring defense holding opponents to an average of 62.0 points per game – the seventh-lowest average in the program’s NCAA Division I era.
Charleston went 9-4 in the non-conference action including an upset of preseason Top-25 ranked LSU and projected No. 1 NBA Draft pick Ben Simmons at TD Arena. In addition, the Cougars claimed first-ever road wins at Navy, at James Madison and at Towson, while picking up the program’s second-ever CAA Tournament win against Delaware in the first round. CofC had seven players earn all-conference honors including Jarrell Brantley, who became the first Cougar freshman to be named conference Rookie of the Year since 2006.
A native of Westminster, S.C., Powell is married to the former Kerri Tucker of Greenwood, S.C. The couple has three sons, Jack (8), Tucker (7) and Hampton (4).
https://cofcsports.com/news/2019/5/23/mens-basketball-powell-promoted-to-associate-head-coach.aspx
