Who is the Vanderbilt basketball coach? What to know about Mark Byington, who beat Kentucky, Tennessee

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Vanderbilt basketball may have hit a home run with its hire of coach Mark Byington.

Byington, in his first season after being hired from James Madison, has already re-energized the Commodores fanbase with wins over Tennessee and Kentucky, a near-perfect non-conference record and a chance to get a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Though Byington, 48, was an under-the-radar hire compared to high-profile moves elsewhere in the SEC, in particular John Calipari moving to Arkansas and being replaced by Mark Pope at Kentucky, observers have begun to take notice of what he’s done with the Commodores.

Here’s what you need to know about the Vanderbilt coach ahead of the Commodores game Saturday at Oklahoma (2:30 p.m., SEC Network):

Mark Byington has ties to Virginia and the Carolinas

Byington is from Salem, Virginia, and he played at UNC-Wilmington where he scored over 1,000 points in his career and was named to the CAA All-Defensive Team. He received a master’s degree from Virginia and worked as a graduate assistant and then later the director of operations for the Cavaliers.

He also had assistant coaching stints at Virginia Tech and Charleston before landing his first head coaching job at Georgia Southern in 2013.

Mark Byington family

Mark Byington has a son, Chase Byington, who is a junior at Ensworth High School in Nashville and plays on the basketball team.

According to the Daily News Record, Byington’s mother was an elementary school teacher and he is the youngest of three brothers.

Mark Byington led James Madison to notable upsets, NCAA tournament

Byington had a record of 131-97 in seven seasons at Georgia Southern. He got hired at James Madison in 2020 and had an 82-36 record in four seasons there.

Most notably, Byington led the Dukes to a season-opening upset of Michigan State in 2023 that led to several weeks of being ranked in the polls. James Madison finished with a regular-season record of 28-3 and won the Sun Belt tournament, earning a No. 12 seed in March Madness.

In March, Byington’s…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/vanderbilt-basketball-coach-know-mark-110306391.html

Author : The Tennessean

Publish date : 2025-02-01 11:03:00

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