CHRIS GRAVES

Head Coach

Chris Graves was named the 13th Head Coach of the Birmingham-Southern men's basketball program on June 13, 2011. Graves served as Assistant Coach for three seasons under Mitch Cole from 2008-2011.

Through tenacious recruiting and innovative defensive strategy, Graves' steady hand helped guide the Panthers to an appearance in the 2012 NCAA Division III national tournament in their first year of post-season eligibility. BSC also won its second-straight Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Eastern Division title and went 25-3 overall and 15-1 in the SCAC. Graves was named SCAC Coach of the Year as well as South Region Coach of the Year by D3hoops.com.

In the 2011 season, BSC won the SCAC Eastern Division crown, as well as an outright regular season SCAC Conference Championship.

Coach Graves is eager to connect BSC's rich tradition to its bright future and welcomes the challenges that lie ahead.

Prior to coming to BSC, Graves coached at both the high school and NCAA Division I levels. At Pell City High School in Pell City, Ala., from 2006-2008, Graves was the architect of the greatest single-season turnaround in school history, going from four wins in the 2006-07 season to twenty-four wins during the 2007-08 campaign. That season also marked the most wins in a season in Pell City High history. He was named County Coach of the Year following that turnaround season.

Graves averaged 20-plus wins for three years at Columbia Central High School in Columbia, Tenn., from 2003-2005, where he was twice awarded District Coach of the Year honors.

Graves served as Assistant Coach at Division I program Tennessee State University from 2001-2003, where he was responsible for on-court instruction and opponent scouting, and headed up recruiting efforts as the recruiting coordinator. He was also a graduate assistant at the University of Arkansas from 1999-2001 for Basketball Hall of Fame honoree Nolan Richardson, where he worked in advanced opponent scouting and player development.

In the off-season Graves directs BSC's Summer Basketball Camps, attracting thousands of young people to experience basketball and campus life on the Hilltop.

A Ft. Worth, Texas, native, Graves attended Lake Country Christian High School. He went on to earn his B.S. degree in Education from John Brown University in 1999. He also earned his M.S. degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Arkansas in 2004. He and his wife, Dr. Merin Graves, have two sons: six-year-old Bryce and Bo, born in August 2012.