Episode 171: Coach Jerry Finkbeiner (Former Utah State, Oral Roberts and Southern Nazarene University Women's Basketball coach) "The Twilight Zone" Defense

Jerry Finkbeiner is in his eighth season as the head women’s basketball coach at Utah State.

Finkbeiner (pronounced Fink-by-ner) was named the ninth head coach in USU program history on April 26, 2012. He is just the second male coach in Utah State history, joining Bob Corbin, who was the Aggies’ coach from 1984-86. Finkbeiner is only the second USU coach since the reinstatement of the program in 2003, when Raegan Pebley took over.

Finkbeiner has an overall record of 570-366 (.609) in 30 years as a collegiate head coach, including his time at Utah State, Oral Roberts (1996-2013) and Southern Nazarene (1991-96). He is also 24th in the nation among active Division I coaches with his 570 career wins.

Finkbeiner came to Utah State from Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla., where he spent 16 years as head coach. During his tenure at ORU, the Golden Eagles averaged 17 wins per season and advanced to postseason play eight times with five trips to the NCAA Tournament and three appearances in the WNIT.

As the head coach at Oral Roberts, Finkbeiner led the Golden Eagles to seven Summit League regular season and tournament titles and six 20-win seasons. At ORU, Finkbeiner coached five All-Americans, eight conference players of the year, five conference newcomers of the year and 26 all-conference selections. He was named conference coach of the year twice during his ORU tenure.

In his six years prior to ORU, Finkbeiner led Southern Nazarene to three-straight NAIA national titles and a combined 99-4 record from 1994 to 1996. Finkbeiner posted a 186-20 record in six seasons at SNU. During his career at Southern Nazarene, Finkbeiner coached nine NAIA All-Americans and a two-time NAIA Player of the Year, while five of his players went on to play professional basketball overseas.

Finkbeiner, a native of Southern California, attended Southern Nazarene in Oklahoma City, Okla., from 1975-80, where he was a four-year letterwinner. In that time, he was selected as a Christian Collegiate All-American in 1978. Finkbeiner graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in physical education and completed his master’s degree in physical education at Northwest Missouri State University. Along with coaching at SNU, Finkbeiner worked as a professor in the kinesiology and sports management department.

Finkbeiner and his wife, Reva, have five children two daughters-in-law and two sons-in-law: Isaac (Angela), Ben (Alycia), Corban (Nathan), Micha (Tommy) and Bethany and 11 grandchildren. His son, Ben, is the associate head coach for the Aggies.

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