Jermaine Kimbrough, a veteran coach who has over 20 years of experience, will begin his second season as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Loyola University Chicago in 2020-21. A native of northeast, Ohio, Kimbrough spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming.
“I am thrilled to add someone with Jermaine’s experience to our staff,” Loyola head coach Porter Moser said. “I have known Jermaine for a long time and really respect the job he has done at every stop along his journey. He is a tireless recruiter and has a tremendous enthusiasm about the profession. Jermaine has recruited and trained players that have reached the highest level and I have been so impressed with his all-around abilities as a coach, from developing strong relationships with student-athletes, to player development, game-planning and recruiting.”
In his first season in Chicago, Kimbrough played a key role in helping the Ramblers to a 21-win season in 2019-20, as the Ramblers finished just one game behind Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference race, giving them three straight seasons of second-place-or-better showings in the regular season standings. Over the last three years, Loyola has compiled 73 wins and with a 78-70 victory over Vanderbilt in December 2019, the Ramblers notched their fifth win over a Power 6 opponent in the last three seasons.
Center Cameron Krutwig finished second in the voting for Larry Bird trophy as the 2019-20 MVC Player of the Year, earning first team all-league accolades, while freshman guard Marquise Kenney was chosen as the MVC Sixth Man of the Year. Tate Hall was hailed as a Third Team All-MVC pick and Lucas Williamson picked up MVC All-Defensive Team recognition.
During his three-year stint at Wyoming, Kimbrough helped lead the Cowboys to a pair of 20-win seasons, including an appearance in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) in 2016-17, and developed two All-Mountain West Conference selections, Justin James and Hayden Dalton, who were honored on multiple occasions.
Before heading to Wyoming, Kimbrough, a 2001 graduate of Virginia Tech, spent one season at the University of Nevada, where he helped the Wolf Pack to a 24-win campaign in 2015-16. That season, Nevada captured the CBI title and also delivered four All-Mountain West Conference individual honors.
Kimbrough spent the bulk of his career at Cleveland State University, where he served nine seasons as an assistant coach under Gary Waters. During his tenure with the Vikings, Kimbrough was a key part of four postseason appearances, including a NCAA tournament and three trips to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), and CSU racked up five 20-win campaigns. He helped recruit an abundance of talent to Cleveland State, including Norris Cole, who was a 2011 NBA Draft pick, as well as NBA players Bryn Forbes, Trey Lewis and Ike Nwamu.
Upon graduation, Kimbrough moved right into the coaching ranks, first serving as an assistant at Howard College from 2001-03 before moving on to Cleveland State as director of operations. After a season at CSU, he spent one year (2004-05) as the director of operations at Massachusetts and then one season at Purdue Fort Wayne (then IPFW) as an assistant coach before returning to Cleveland State.
Kimbrough began his playing career at St. Catherine College before transferring to Virginia Tech, where he played two seasons (1998-2000) before graduating with a degree in psychology. He was a prep standout at Shaker Heights High School in Cleveland, earning all-league honors on four occasions and all-city accolades three times. As a senior, he was a second team all-state designee after pouring in 26 points per game.
Kimbrough and his wife, Tameka, have five children.
