John Groce

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
akronhoops@uakron.edu
Phone:
(330) 972-7781

Groce became the Akron Zips 22nd head coach on April 6, 2017. He completed his seventh season at Akron with a 140-81 overall record, including a 85-39 mark over the last four seasons. In Mid-American Conference play, the Zips are 81-48 under Groce and 52-22 over the last three years, owning the best winning percentage (.743) in the league.

Groce has a long track record of building championship caliber teams and all-around successful young men. The program’s mission “to be impactful”, and the vision “OneAkron”, resonates with everyone involved in the program as he is notorious for saying “It takes a village.”

In 2023-24, Groce led his squad to a Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship behind a 24-11 overall record and 13-5 conference record, the first since 2022. Defeating rival Kent State (62-61) in the MAC Championship game, the Zips advanced to the NCAA Tournament where they played Creighton in the First Round in Pittsburgh, Pa. Enrique Freeman was named the MAC Player of The Year, All-MAC First Team and All-MAC defensive team while Ali Ali was named to the All-MAC First Team and Greg Tribble was named to the All-MAC Defensive Team and Honorable Mention All-MAC.

Under Groce’s guidance, Freeman became the first Zip selected in the modern two-round NBA Draft era and the first since 1987. Freeman was named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press while being named top five finalist for the Karl Malone Award, a finalist for the Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award along with being named to the Oscar Robertson All-American list.

The 2022-23 season saw Groce lead the Zips to a third-place finish in the MAC where they eventually fell to Kent State in the semifinals. The Zips finished the season with a 22-11 overall record, a 13-5 conference record, and a 15-1 record at home. Akron saw Xavier Castaneda and Enrique Freeman named to the All-MAC First Team while Greg Tribble and Freeman were named to the ALL-MAC Defensive Team. Freeman was also a Kar Malone Award Top 10 nomination.

In 2022, The University of Akron basketball program claimed the 2022 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament Championship and advanced to the 2022 NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history. Akron entered NCAA Tournament as a No. 13 seed and played against the No. 4 seed UCLA Bruins in the First Round of the East Region at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on March 17, 2022. The Zips fell 57-53. Akron won eight consecutive games entering the NCAA Tournament, including the last five regular season games and the three MAC Tournament games. The Zips finished the season with a 24-10 overall record and 14-6 record in league play.

In 2020, the Zips matched the best regular season record in program history at 24-7. Groce led the Zips to five consecutive Mid-American Conference Tournaments, earning the No. 4 seed and defeating fifth-seeded Buffalo (70-68) in the quarterfinal round, top-seeded Toledo (70-62) in the semifinal round and second-seeded Kent State (75-55) in the finals. Akron earned No. 1 seed in 2020 – the 2020 MAC Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During his 27-year coaching career, he has helped coach teams to 19 postseason appearances in 24 opportunities, including six regular season conference championships, eight conference tournament championships, a National Runner-up, an Elite 8, an NCAA Sweet 16 and seven Round of 32 appearances. Over 27 years his teams have not only shown consistent success on the court but have demonstrated sustained excellence in the classroom as well.

Prior to joining the Zips, Groce was head men's basketball coach at the University of Illinois for five seasons. During his tenure at Illinois, he led the Illini to an average of 19 wins per season along with postseason appearances in four of his five years in Champaign, owning a 95-75 record.

He arrived at Illinois after four seasons as head coach at Ohio University, where he led the Bobcats to an 85-56 overall record as well as Mid-American Conference Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2010 and 2012. Groce pursued building a championship program in all phases. There were signature wins on the court, player development improvements, recruiting success, and achievement in the classroom as well.

Ohio was the story of the 2012 Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 as a No. 13 seed with victories over No. 4 seed Michigan followed by No. 12 seed South Florida. The Bobcats made a strong push for the Elite Eight before falling to No. 1 seed North Carolina in overtime in the regional semifinal. It marked just the second time in Ohio’s school history and first since 1964 that the Bobcats won multiple games in the NCAA Tournament. Ohio finished the 2012 season with a school-record 29 wins and was known for its pressure defense, ranking second nationally in turnover percentage and third in steals percentage.

Ohio also made noise in the 2010 postseason. Playing in the school’s first NCAA Tournament game in five seasons, the Bobcats received a No. 14 seed and defeated No. 3 seed Georgetown. With the 2010 and 2012 NCAA performances, Ohio became just the sixth school ever to win Tournament games as both a 13 and 14 seed.

Groce earned his first head-coaching job at Ohio following four seasons on Thad Matta’s staff at Ohio State from 2005-08, the first two as assistant coach and last two as associate head coach. During Groce’s time in Columbus the Buckeyes amassed a record of 105-35, advanced to the NCAA Championship game in 2007 and second round in 2006, claimed back-to-back outright Big Ten Championships in 2006 and 2007 and won the NIT in 2008.

Groce played a key role in recruiting many of the top players at Ohio State and was named Rivals’ 2006 National Recruiter of the Year.

The John Groce File

YEAR-BY-YEAR COACHING RECORD

Season	School	Overall			Conference			Standing	Postseason
		W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.
2008-09	Ohio	15	17	0.469	7	9	0.438	6th East
2009-10	Ohio	22	15	0.595	7	9	0.438	5th East	NCAA Second Round
2010-11	Ohio	19	16	0.543	9	7	0.563	3rd East	CIT Quarterfinals
2011-12	Ohio	29	8	0.784	11	5	0.688	3rd East	NCAA Sweet 16
4 seasons		85	56	0.603	34	30	0.531

2012-13	Illinois	23	13	0.639	8	10	0.444	T7th	NCAA Third Round
2013-14	Illinois	20	15	0.571	7	11	0.389	T8th	NIT Second Round
2014-15	Illinois	19	14	0.576	9	9	0.500	T7th	NIT First Round
2015-16	Illinois	15	19	0.441	5	13	0.278	12th
2016-17	Illinois	18	14	0.563	8	10	0.444	9th
5 seasons		97	76	0.561	37	53	0.411

2017-18	Akron	14	18	0.438	6	12	0.333	6th East
2018-19	Akron	17	16	0.515	8	10	0.444	4th East
2019-20	Akron	24	7	0.770	14	4	0.760	1st East	MAC Champions, NCAA Tournament Canceled
2020-21	Akron	15	8	.652	12	6	.667	3rd MAC
2021-22	Akron	24	10	.706	14	6	.700	T-3rd MAC	NCAA First Round
2022-23	Akron	22	11	.667	13	5	.722	3rd MAC
2023-24	Akron	24	11	.686	13	5	.722	2nd MAC	NCAA First Round
7 Seasons		140	81	0.634	80	48	0.625

CAREER TOTALS	16 yrs.	322	213	0.602	151	131	0.534

COACHING EXPERIENCE
*2018-present*	*Akron*	*Head Coach*
2013-17	Illinois	Head Coach
2009-12	Ohio	Head Coach
2007-08	Ohio State	Associate Head Coach
2005-06	Ohio State	Assistant Coach
2002-04	Xavier	Assistant Coach
2001	Butler	Assistant Coach
1997-00	N.C. State	Assistant Coach
1994-96	Taylor	Assistant Coach

BIRTHDATE	EDUCATION
Sept. 7, 1971	Taylor University, B.S. in mathematics, 1994

HOMETOWN	COLLEGIATE PLAYING CAREER
Danville, Ind.	1991-93 Basketball (Taylor)

FAMILY
Wife- Allison
Children- Conner, Camden, and Cate