Josh Oppenheimer

Class:
Redshirt

Josh Oppenheimer is in his second season as a member of Jim Christian’s coaching staff at Kent State. He was promoted from assistant to associate head coach in July. Oppenheimer came to Kent State after three seasons at DePaul.

His first season at Kent State was a memorable one as the Golden Flashes posted a 25-9 record en route to the Mid-American Conference regular season and tournament championships and a NCAA Tournament berth.

Oppenheimer works with the Flashes’ backcourt and last season, Kent State ranked second in the MAC in three-pointers made, connecting on 237 shots from beyond the arc. That total is also the second highest single-season mark in school history.

In the three seasons at DePaul the team won 58 games including 30 in conference play, the most in any three-year period in school history.

Oppenheimer’s second season at DePaul (2003-04) was a big success as the Blue Demons reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1989 and won a share of the program’s first-ever Conference USA regular season title.

Prior to Depaul, Oppenheimer spent two seasons as the top assistant at Delaware and a pair of seasons at Duquesne where he was rated among the top recruiters in the nation at the mid-major level by several publications.

A native of Los Angeles, Oppenheimer got his start in coaching by spending 10 years as coach of the L.A. Rockfish, one of the nation’s top AAU programs.

Oppenheimer played 10 seasons of professional basketball. He spent two summers in the United States Basketball League playing for Atlanta, Philadelphia and Palm Beach and also logged a season in the Continental Basketball Association with Cedar Rapids. He spent seven seasons in the Israel Premier League.

A graduate of Northern Arizona, Oppenheimer played his freshman season at Rhode Island, where he and Christian were members of the Rams’ NCAA Tournament “Sweet 16” team. He transferred the following season to Northern Arizona played two years with the Lumberjacks.

Oppenheimer and his wife Adrienne have two daughters, Gabriella (10) and Nicolette (7).

“I played with Josh in college and I’ve known him a long time and he has had nothing but success everywhere he has been,” Christian said. “He relates very well to our players and he is a great teacher of the game.”