Todd Bozeman

Todd Anthony Bozeman (born December 5, 1963) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Morgan State University.

Berkeley

He previously served as head coach at University of California, Berkeley from 1993 to 1996. He took over as interim coach in February 1993 when Lou Campanelli was fired with 10 games to go in the season. He led the Golden Bears to an upset of two-time defending national champion Duke in the second round of the 1993 tourney, becoming the youngest coach (29 years old) ever to take a team to the "Sweet Sixteen". Following the season, Bozeman was given the coaching job on a permanent basis. He led the Golden Bears to two more NCAA tournaments.

Scandal and Controversy

Bozeman was forced to resign in the fall of 1996, shortly before the start of the 1996-97 season. He admitted paying $30,000 over two years to the parents of Golden Bears recruit Jelani Gardner so they could drive from their home in Mendocino to see him play. When Gardner's playing time dwindled, his parents turned Bozeman in to the NCAA and Gardner eventually transferred to Pepperdine.^[1] He had also been the subject of a sexual harassment complaint; just before the announcement he had been ordered to stay away from a former Cal student who had accused him of making lewd phone calls and threatening her.^[2]

As a result of a subsequent investigation, Cal had to forfeit the entire 1994–95 season and all but two games of the 1995–96 season. The school also vacated its appearance in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. The NCAA also imposed an eight-year "show-cause" order on Bozeman. The show-cause order meant that until 2005, no NCAA member school could hire Bozeman unless it either agreed to impose sanctions on him or convinced the NCAA that he had served his punishment. The NCAA came down particularly hard on Bozeman because he'd lied to school and NCAA officials about his role in making the payments and admitted it only a week before the NCAA hearing.^[3]

Since most schools will not even consider hiring a coach with an outstanding "show-cause" on his record, Bozeman was effectively blackballed from the college ranks for eight years. He was also hampered by rumors that he had deliberately undermined Campanelli,^[4] even though the National Association of Basketball Coaches cleared him of any wrongdoing in the events that led to Campanelli's ouster.^[5]

After Berkeley

Bozeman spent the next ten years working as an NBA assistant and scout before landing the Morgan State job in 2006. He was the first coach to land a job at another school after being slapped with a "show-cause,"^[4] but on January 9, 2012, he was suspended indefinitely from the head coaching position at Morgan State for allegedly striking a Morgan State player during a timeout at a game at South Carolina State,^[6] only to be reinstated ten days later, on January 19.^[7]

Head coaching record

*Bozeman was named acting head coach in February 1993 following the firing of Lou Campanelli; California credits the first 17 games of the regular season to Campanelli and the final 13 games (including the NCAA Tournament) to Bozeman.
**Entire 1994–95 season and all but two games of 1995–96 season forfeited by NCAA after it was discovered that Jelani Gardner was ineligible. 1996 NCAA Tournament appearance was vacated. Official record for 1994–95 is 0–27 (0–18 Pac-10), official record for 1995–96 is 2–26 (2–16 Pac-10).
&Official record at California is 35–63 (23–41 Pac-10) not including forfeited and vacated games.

References