Ray Harper

Born on October 11, 1961, in Bremen, Kentucky, Ray Harper began his collegiate basketball career as a player at the University of Texas before transferring to Kentucky Wesleyan, where he was a two-year starter and earned All-American honors in 1985. He finished his playing career with 1,187 points and 605 assists. Harper transitioned into coaching, building a career that spans over 30 years with an overall record of 600-252. His early head coaching success at Kentucky Wesleyan College and Oklahoma City University included four national championships across NCAA Division II and NAIA Division I, along with five national coach-of-the-year awards. He also holds multiple NCAA coaching records, such as the fastest to 200 wins in 224 games.

Harper’s Division I head coaching career began with Western Kentucky in 2012, where he led the Hilltoppers to two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013. He achieved three consecutive 20-win seasons, a first for a WKU coach. In 2016, Harper was appointed head coach at Jacksonville State. He quickly transformed the program, leading them to their first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance in 2017 and another in 2022. Under his leadership, Jacksonville State secured its first Division I regular-season conference title in the ASUN Conference in 2022, earning him ASUN Coach of the Year honors. In 2025, he was named Conference USA Coach of the Year, guiding Jax State to a 23-13 record and the program’s first NIT bid.

His tenure at Jacksonville State marks him as the program’s winningest Division I coach, with five of its six 20-win seasons occurring under his direction. Harper celebrated his 600th career victory in 2025 with an 81-64 win over Georgia Tech in the NIT. Throughout his coaching career, Harper has led teams through transitions across different conferences, including the Ohio Valley Conference, ASUN Conference, and Conference USA, consistently achieving competitive results and postseason berths.