America East Basketball News & Notes: Bryant has a new coach

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Well it did not take long for Bryant University to make a decision with their coaching vacancy on the men’s side. Last Thursday the school announced they had found the man that was now going to run the program. His name Jamion Christian , who comes to Smithfield, RI by way of Pallacanestro Trieste in Italy, where he was coaching in the Italian Professional League.

Before making the trip overseas, Christian did some college coaching here in the States with three head jobs with George Washington, Sieina, and Mount St. Mary. He becomes the 10th head coach in Bryant University history. A press conference was held last Friday to introduce him to the school and the fanbase of the Bulldogs.

Considered one of the brightest minds in the game of college basketball, Christian brings 18 years of experience to Bryant University as well as two years of pro coaching experience from his time in Italy. For the past two seasons, he has been the head coach of Serie A program team Pallacanestro Trieste. Back in 2020, ESPN rated him #14 on their list of Top-40 under 40 list of best young coaches in the country.

He joined Trieste in the 2023-24 season and led the team to a Serie A playoff championship. In his two seasons as head coach, the team has posted a 41-24 record, and at the moment, they currently sit in sixth place in their 16-team league. Christian is a 2004 graduate of Mount St Mary. He earned his first head coaching job in 2012 at the age of 29 at the Mount and would be the head coach of the Mountaineers for the next six seasons, guiding them to two Northeast Conference Championships in 2014 and 2017. They advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and in 2017, Mount St. Mary won a First Four game against the University of New Orleans. For his efforts in 2017, Christian would win the NEC Coach of the Year Award. Overall, he was 101-95 with a league record of 67-39.

Christian was named head coach of Siena in May of 2018, and he coached only one season there. His record was 17-16, which was a nine-win improvement over the previous season. Siena jumped up in the rankings in scoring defense from 251st to 43rd in the country, from 322nd to eighth in fewest turnovers, and from 250th to 74th in 3-point field goals per game.

However, after that one year at Siena, Christian took the job at George Washington. He would be there for three seasons from 2019-22, where he had an overall record of 29-50. He also has some assistant coaching experience at VCU, William & Mary, Bucknell, Emory, and Henry. Christian would help the VCU Rams make a run to the Sweet 16 in 2012.

He is known for his “Mayhem style of basketball,” a pressing defense, and an up-tempo offense that likes to shoot a lot of 3-pointers. When he played at Mount St. Mary, he was a three-year captain of the team, playing in 90 career games, with 56 starts. He totaled 581 points and he led the team in scoring in 2001-02 at 11.3 points per game.

He inherits a Bryant team that just finished a 23-win season, which is a Division I record for the school. They would win both the league’s regular season and postseason titles. Since 2020-21, the Bulldogs have won 97 games, which is the third most in New England. However, most of the core of last year’s team is gone, either by graduating or the transfer portal. A new cast of characters will be needed in Smithfield for next season.