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{{Short description|American basketball player and coach (born 1963)}}
{{other people|Sam Vincent}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = Sam Vincent
| image = 
| width = 
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|05|18}}
| birth_place = [[Lansing, Michigan]], U.S.
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 2
| weight_lb = 185
| high_school = [[Eastern High School (Michigan)|Eastern]] (Lansing, Michigan)
| college = [[Michigan State Spartans men's basketball|Michigan State]] (1981–1985)
| draft_year = 1985
| draft_round = 1
| draft_pick = 20
| draft_team = [[Boston Celtics]]
| career_start = 1985
| career_end = 1994
| career_position = [[Point guard]]
| career_number = 11, 14
| coach_start = 1999
| coach_end = Present
| years1 = {{nbay|1985|start}}–{{nbay|1986|end}}
| team1 = [[Boston Celtics]]
| years2 = {{nbay|1987|full=y}}
| team2 = [[Seattle SuperSonics]]
| years3 = {{nbay|1987|end}}–{{nbay|1988|end}}
| team3 = [[Chicago Bulls]]
| years4 = {{nbay|1989|start}}–{{nbay|1991|end}}
| team4 = [[Orlando Magic]]
| years5 = 1993–1994
| team5 = [[Aris B.C.|Aris]]
| cyears1 = 1999–2000
| cteam1 = [[Gymnastikos S. Larissas BC|Gymnastikos S. Larissas]]
| cyears2 = 2000–2001
| cteam2 = [[EiffelTowers Den Bosch]]
| cyears3 = 2001–2003
| cteam3 = [[Mobile Revelers]]
| cyears4 = 2005–2006
| cteam4 = [[Fort Worth Flyers]]
| cyears5 = {{nbay|2006|full=y}}
| cteam5 = [[Dallas Mavericks]] (assistant)
| cyears6 = {{nbay|2007|full=y}}
| cteam6 = [[Charlotte Hornets|Charlotte Bobcats]]
| cyears7 = 2008–2009
| cteam7 = [[Anaheim Arsenal]]
| cyears8 = 2014–2016
| cteam8 = [[Manama Club (basketball)|Manama Club]]
| cyears9 = 2022–2025
| cteam9 = [[Beacon College]]
| highlights = * [[List of NBA champions|NBA champion]] ([[1986 NBA Finals|1986]])
* Second-team [[NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans|All-American]] – [[National Association of Basketball Coaches|NABC]] ([[1985 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans|1985]])
* Third-team All-American – [[Associated Press|AP]], [[United Press International|UPI]] (1985)
* First-team [[Parade All-America Boys Basketball Team|''Parade'' All-American]] (1981)
* [[McDonald's All-American Game|McDonald's All-American]] ([[1981 McDonald's All-American Boys Game|1981]])
* [[Mr. Basketball of Michigan]] (1981)
* [[NBA G League|NBA D-League champion]] (2003)
| stats_league = NBA
| stat1label = [[Point (basketball)|Points]]
| stat1value = 3,106 (7.8 ppg)
| stat2label = [[Assist (basketball)|Assists]]
| stat2value = 1,543 (3.9 apg)
| team = APR
| position = Defensive coach
| league = [[Basketball Africa League]]
| cyears10 = [[2025 BAL season|2025]]
| cteam10 = [[MBB Basketball|MBB]]
| cteam11 = [[APR BBC|APR]] (defensive)
| cyears11 = 2025–present
}}
'''James Samuel Vincent''' (born May 18, 1963) is an American former professional [[basketball]] player and coach. He is the current coach of [[MBB Basketball|MBB]] of the [[Basketball Africa League]] (BAL).

Vincent was [[Mr. Basketball of Michigan]] in 1981, while playing with [[Michigan State Spartans men's basketball|Michigan State]], and turned professional after four years of college basketball. He became an [[NBA champion]] in 1986 with the [[Boston Celtics]]. Vincent began a coaching career in Europe after his retirement.

== Playing career ==
Vincent won the State of Michigan "Mr. Basketball" award in 1981, the first year the award was given. He attended Lansing's [[Eastern High School (Michigan)|Eastern High School]], where he scored 61 points in one game as a senior, breaking the previous city scoring record of 54 set by [[Magic Johnson]] at [[Everett High School (Michigan)|Everett High School]].

A 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) [[point guard]], Vincent followed in the footsteps of his older brother [[Jay Vincent]], attending [[Michigan State University]] and earning ''[[The Sporting News|Sporting News]]'' [[All-America]] honors in 1985. After graduating from college, he was selected by the [[Boston Celtics]] with the twentieth pick of the [[1985 NBA draft]]. He played two seasons for the Celtics, winning an [[NBA Finals|NBA Championship]] ring as a reserve in 1986, before joining the [[Seattle SuperSonics]], who promptly traded him to the [[Chicago Bulls]] for [[Sedale Threatt]]. After one-and-a-half solid seasons with the Bulls, he was selected by the [[Orlando Magic]] in the 1989 NBA [[expansion draft]], and he finished his NBA career with the Magic in [[1991-92 NBA season|1992]]. His 1990–1991 NBA Hoops basketball card has gained fame due to having [[Michael Jordan]] in view wearing a #12 jersey, instead of his normal #23. Vincent scored 3,106 points and tallied 1,543 assists during his seven-year tenure in the league.

Shortly after retiring, Vincent worked at [[Disney's Wide World of Sports]] in [[Walt Disney World Resort|Walt Disney World]]. During the late 1990s, he coached basketball in South Africa, and he has also coached in Greece, Netherlands, [[Nigeria]], and the [[NBA G League|NBA Developmental League]]; he went to the league finals in the NBADL twice, winning once. At the [[2004 Summer Olympics]], he led the Nigerian women's basketball team to a 68–64 victory over South Korea, which was the first ever victory by an African nation in an Olympic women's basketball contest.

==Coaching career==
He was coach of the [[Fort Worth Flyers]] in the 2005–06 season. Shortly after coaching the [[Nigeria national basketball team|Nigeria men's team]] to the second round of the [[2006 FIBA World Championship]] (including a shocking upset of traditional power [[Serbia and Montenegro]]), he was hired as an assistant coach by the [[Dallas Mavericks]].

On May 25, 2007, Vincent was introduced as the new head coach of the [[Charlotte Hornets|Charlotte Bobcats]] of the [[National Basketball Association|NBA]].<ref>{{cite news | title = Bobcats New Era Begins With Vincent | author = Charlotte Bobcats | publisher = [[Charlotte Bobcats]] | date = 2007-05-25 | url = http://www.nba.com/bobcats/vincent_coach_070525.html | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090307043350/http://www.nba.com/bobcats/vincent_coach_070525.html | archive-date = 2009-03-07 }}</ref> On April 26, 2008, Vincent was relieved of his head coaching duties.<ref>[https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=3368749 Bobcats fire Sam Vincent; is Brown interested?]</ref>  Later that year, Vincent was named the head coach of the [[Anaheim Arsenal]] of the NBA Development League.

===Nigerian national basketball team===

Vincent assumed coaching the D'Tigress at the [[2004 Summer Olympics]]. He led the team to a 68–64 victory over [[South Korea]], the victory was the first victory by an African side in the women's basketball event in the Olympics. In 2005, Sam Vincent led the Nigerian women's basketball team to their second tournament victory in the FIBA African Basketball Championship (Afrobasket).

Vincent returned as the team's head coach in 2017. He led the team to a 100 per cent performance in the 2017 FIBA African women's basketball tournament [[Afrobasket]] in Bamako, Mali. The team clinched their third Afrobasket title by defeating Senegal by 65–48 points in the final and consequently qualifying for the FIBA women's basketball World cup in Spain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/09/09/sam-vincent-beating-the-odds/|title=Sam Vincent&#124;: Beating the Odds|date=9 September 2017}}</ref>

Vincent had his appointment as head coach of the Nigeria Women's Basketball Team terminated by the [[Nigeria Basketball Federation]] on Thursday, August 2 while the team was preparing for the [[2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.basketballwithinborders.com/breaking-nigeria-dtigress-head-coach-sam-vincent-fired/|title=BREAKING: Nigeria D'Tigress Head Coach Sam Vincent fired! {{!}} BWB|website=www.basketballwithinborders.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-08-03}}</ref>

Vincent was appointed as head coach of the [[Bahrain men's national basketball team|Bahrain national basketball team]], replacing Serbian coach [[Darko Ruso]]. This was after having coached the Riffa, [[Manama Club (basketball)|Manama]] and [[Al-Ahli Club (Manama)|Al-Ahli Manama]] clubs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeoutbahrain.com/sport-wellbeing/sport/428937-former-nba-player-sam-vincent-signed-as-coach-of-bahrains-national-basketball-team/|title=Former NBA player Sam Vincent signed as coach of Bahrain's national basketball team {{!}} TOB|website=www.timeoutbahrain.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-16}}</ref>

In September 2022, Vincent was named the first head coach of the men's team at Beacon College, a liberal arts school in Central Florida.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.beaconcollege.edu/faculty/2022/09/former-nba-star-sam-vincent-hopes-to-bring-magic-to-beacon-hoops/ | title=Faculty and Staff Archive }}</ref> 

On February 4, 2025, Vincent was announced as the new head coach of South African club [[MBB Basketball|MBB]] of the [[Basketball Africa League]] (BAL).<ref>{{Cite Instagram |postid=DFo7U97Ndlm/ |user=mbb_basketball |title=MBB welcomes Sam Vincent! Sam Vincent, a former NBA champion and well established international coach with incredible impact over many years, is joining Team MBB as head coach for BAL Season 5! Sam has a deep love for our country and continent, and is ready to bring his invaluable experience and passion for the game to our players and team. GHIV US Everything you've got Coach! Let's go! #iTeamYaseDladleni #GHIVUS #MadeByBall |author=MBB Basketball |date=2025-02-04}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2025-02-05 |title=South Africa's MBB appoint former Mavs coach Sam Vincent for BAL |url=https://africa.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/43699993/south-africa-mbb-appoint-former-dallas-mavericks-coach-sam-vincent-basketball-africa-league |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref> Former [[Orlando Magic|Magic]] player [[Pat Burke]] took over the position as head men's basketball coach and director of athletics at Beacon in March 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 2025 |title=Burke Appointed as Athletics Director |url=https://www.beaconcollege.edu/burke-appointed-as-athletic-director/ |website=beaconcollege.edu}}</ref> MBB was eliminated in the group phase of the BAL, following a 2–4 record. On June 4, Vincent joined Rwandan team [[APR BBC|APR]] as a defensive coach ahead of the [[2025 BAL playoffs]], while also expressing his intention to stay on as MBB's head coach.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-06-04 |title=MBB coach Vincent joins Rwanda's APR for BAL playoffs |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/45447957/nba-winning-coach-sam-vincent-joins-rwanda-apr-bal-playoffs |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref>

== Personal ==
Vincent has kids, who have the South African nationality.<ref name=":0" />

==Head coaching record==
===NBA===
{{NBA coach statistics legend}}
{{NBA coach statistics start}}
|-
| align="left" |[[2007–08 Charlotte Bobcats season|Charlotte]]
| align="left" |{{nbay|2007}}
|82||32||50||.390|| align="center" |4th in Southeast||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |Missed Playoffs
|-class="sortbottom"
| align="left" |'''Career'''
| ||82||32||50||.390|| ||—||—||—||—
{{s-end}}

===College===
{{CBB Yearly Record Start | type = | conference = | postseason= | poll = }}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name       = Beacon College NaviGators (men)
 | conference = 
 | startyear  = 2022
 | endyear    = 2023
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | season       = 2022–23
 | name         = Beacon College
 | overall      = 0–5<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSgy2lAT9HESCWg-eNQbVnCAmzQ9T2uZuw5DMEjI0er7_WXnFVlmegv3Acmt_aPenwiPj6Js1M_bdV9/pubhtml|title=Beacon College 2022–23 Men's Basketball Game Log|via=Google Sheets}}</ref>
 | conference   = Unaffiliated (Developmental Season)
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name       = Beacon College Blazers (men)
 | conference = 
 | startyear  = 2023
 | endyear    = Present
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | season       = 2023–24
 | name         = Beacon College
 | overall      = 10–6<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vT5q150OqIR2zrq2SH7mPjJCMjNAwt3BvlYhc9Ykzzedd_RXDyjpfgFpETLEsAVRAyz3k8Z1cl0KB8x/pub|title=Beacon Men's Basketball 2023–24 Game Log|via=Google Docs}}</ref>
 | conference   = USCAA Division I Independent
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record End
 | overall = {{winpct|10|11|record=y}}
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.nba.com/coachfile/sam_vincent/index.html?nav=page NBA.com coach profile]
*{{Basketballstats|bbr=v/vincesa01}}

{{navboxes|list=
{{Charlotte Bobcats coach navbox}}
{{Boston Celtics 1985-86 NBA champions}}
{{1985 NBA draft}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Sam}}
[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American sportsmen]]
[[Category:African-American basketball coaches]]
[[Category:All-American college men's basketball players]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Greece]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in South Africa]]
[[Category:American expatriate sportspeople in Nigeria]]
[[Category:American men's basketball players]]
[[Category:American women's basketball coaches]]
[[Category:Anaheim Arsenal coaches]]
[[Category:Aris B.C. players]]
[[Category:Basketball coaches from Michigan]]
[[Category:Basketball players from Lansing, Michigan]]
[[Category:Boston Celtics draft picks]]
[[Category:Boston Celtics players]]
[[Category:Charlotte Bobcats head coaches]]
[[Category:Chicago Bulls players]]
[[Category:Dallas Mavericks assistant coaches]]
[[Category:Fort Worth Flyers coaches]]
[[Category:Gymnastikos S. Larissas B.C. coaches]]
[[Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans]]
[[Category:Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players]]
[[Category:Mobile Revelers coaches]]
[[Category:Orlando Magic expansion draft picks]]
[[Category:Orlando Magic players]]
[[Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)]]
[[Category:Point guards]]
[[Category:Seattle SuperSonics players]]
[[Category:Basketball Africa League coaches]]