Scott Spinelli

Scott Spinelli is an American college basketball coach.

Spinelli is most notorious for his Unique recruiting abilities, as he has sent a total of five unranked recruits to the NBA from three different schools.

Scott Spinelli was born in Leominster, Massachusetts.

He is a 1989 graduate of Boston University, where he was a member of the basketball team under coach Mike Jarvis, helping the Terriers advance to the NCAA tournament in 1988.

Widely regarded as one of the top assistant coaches in college basketball, Spinelli has earned a reputation as an excellent recruiter and game tactician during a career that has seen him have success at every level of basketball.

He began his coaching career on the prep level in 1990 at Milford Academy, where he spent three seasons as head coach and coached several Division I prospects.

In 1993, Spinelli started the basketball program at The Winchendon School in Winchendon, Mass., where in the first three years of the program's history, he led them to two appearances in the NEPSAC Class A Tournament championship game.

Spinelli also produced numerous Division I players at Winchendon, including former McDonald's All-American Randell Jackson, who played in the NBA with the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks.

From 1996–1999, Spinelli spent time as an assistant coach at Wyoming and American, where he recruited two nationally ranked classes.

In 2000, he became a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers, where he spent one season before returning to the college level.

From 2001 to 2003, he served as an assistant coach at Loyola-Chicago, as the Ramblers won their most games since the 1980s and earned a Horizon League Championship berth.

In 2003, Spinelli became an assistant coach under Barry Collier at Nebraska, where the Cornhuskers reached the postseason twice.

Collier is now the Athletic Director at Butler University and the man responsible for hiring Brad Stevens.

Spinelli then served as an assistant coach at Wichita State University during the 2006–2007 season.

This became the first of three schools that he served as assistant coach under head coach Mark Turgeon.

The Shockers were ranked as high as #8 in the AP Poll and were victorious over George Mason, LSU and Syracuse on the road.

After former Texas A&M head men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie left to coach at Kentucky, Turgeon was immediately hired as head coach of the Aggies on April 10, 2007, thus bringing Spinelli with him to serve as his top assistant.

Turgeon and Spinelli acquired all of Gillispie's recruits for the 2007–08 season, including 5 star-rated DeAndre Jordan.

From 2007 to 2011, the Aggies won 102 games, which still stands as their greatest four-year win total in school history.

The program also won the 2007 NIT Preseason Tip-Off and earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament all four years, while advancing to the round of 32 in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

In May 2011, Turgeon met with his coaching staff and players to inform them that half an hour earlier he accepted the head coach position at the University of Maryland.

Turgeon quickly offered Spinelli a position on his staff at Maryland, which was accepted.

The 2012-13 Terrapins won 25 games and reached an NIT Final Four.

They were also the only program in the country to beat Duke twice in that season.

The Aggies started the season ranked 14th in the preseason Coaches Poll.

Spinelli enjoyed great success during his four-year stint as the top assistant at Texas A&M.

While at Maryland, Spinelli helped the program land three recruiting classes, all nationally ranked in the top 25, including a top 10 class in 2014.

In 2014, it was announced that Spinelli had accepted an assistant coaching position at Boston College under head coach Jim Christian.

During the 2017–2018 season, the Eagles won their most games since 2010-2011 and knocked off #1 ranked Duke.

On February 15, 2021, Spinelli was named the Interim Head Coach at Boston College.

Spinelli is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the country, who has the Unique ability to find "diamonds in the rough."

A defier of player rankings, Spinelli has proven numerous times that he can turn unheralded recruits into NBA stars.

Spinelli's impact has been felt at all of his coaching stops.

While at Nebraska, Spinelli signed two nationally ranked recruiting classes and recruited all Big 12 selection Aleks Maric.

Collier, the head coach at the time stated, “The leadership part is being able to find students that fit ability-wise and character-wise.

I think Scott (can do) both.

“This is a whole thing about treating people the right way, and he does that.”

Spinelli has now sent players to the National Basketball Association (NBA) from three different schools.

While at Texas A&M, Spinelli recruited 3x NBA All-Star and current Milwaukee Bucks forward, Khris Middleton, as well as current Denver Nuggets center DeAndre Jordan.

Over the years, Middleton has credited Spinelli for getting him to where he is today.