Dennis Felton

Dennis Felton
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Assistant Coach
Team	New Jersey Nets Summer League Team
Biographical details
Born	June 21, 1963 (1963-06-21) (age 48)
Place of birth	Tokyo, Japan
Playing career
1981-1983 1983-1985	Prince George's CC Howard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1985-1986 1986-1990 1990-1991 1991-1992 1992-1994 1994-1998 1998-2003 2003-2009 2010-	Charles County CC (asst.) Delaware (asst.) Tulane (asst.) Saint Joseph's (asst.) Providence (asst.) Clemson (asst.) Western Kentucky Georgia New Jersey Nets Summer League Team
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
SEC Tournament Championship (2008) Sun Belt Tournament Championship (2001, 2002, 2003)

Dennis Felton (born June 21, 1963) is an American basketball coach for the National Basketball Association New Jersey Nets. He is the former^[1] head men's basketball coach at the University of Georgia.

Felton was born in Tokyo, Japan^[2] and spent his early years living in and visiting a variety of locales around the world, due to his father's career in the United States Air Force. His family eventually moved to Clinton, Maryland, a suburban town in the Washington, D.C., area, a short distance from Andrews Air Force Base. Dennis Felton graduated from Surrattsville High School in 1981 and went on to Prince George's Community College. He completed his athletic and academic careers at Howard University in 1985, where he was a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference All-Academic selection.

Felton got his start in the coaching profession as an assistant basketball coach at Oxon Hill High School in 1984. He then became an assistant coach at Charles County Community College, for one season (1985–86) before moving on to University of Delaware as an assistant coach for four seasons (1986–90). Felton continued his collegiate career with one season each at Tulane University and St. Joseph's University. In 1992 he took an assistant's post at Providence College under Rick Barnes. That season began a 6-year apprenticeship with Barnes that included two with the Friars and four at Clemson University (1994–98). The six teams that Barnes and Felton coached together all posted winning seasons (including three 20-win campaigns), all played in the postseason (four NCAA berths, two in the NIT) and went 114-71, averaging 19 wins per year.

In the spring of 1998, just before Barnes left Clemson for Texas, Felton ascended to the lead chair at Western Kentucky University. His first two Hilltopper squads went a combined 24-34. The 1999 team advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament title game. His Hilltopper teams won the Sun Belt Conference tournament titles in 2001, 2002, and 2003. In April 2003, Felton was offered the head coaching position at the University of Georgia. Felton also took assistant Coaches Bert Tucker and Ken McDonald as well as legendary Associate Head Coach Pete Herrmann with him to Athens.

In his first four seasons at Georgia, Felton had compiled a 58-63 record with two NIT appearances while attempting to lead Georgia back from the severe disadvantages that previous coach Jim Harrick dealt the program. Despite having only 9 scholarship players in 2007-2008, Felton's Bulldogs completed an unprecedented run in SEC Tournament Championship history. Entering the 2008 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament as the lowest seed, Georgia won 4 games in 3 days to capture the conference tournament crown and the corresponding automatic berth in the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. In their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002, the Bulldogs were defeated by Xavier University in the first round in Philadelphia.

As of January 29, 2009, Dennis Felton is no longer the head coach of the UGA Men's Basketball team. This came with a losing streak that left the team with a 9-11 record in mid-season. He finished his career as the coach of UGA Men's Basketball team with a 84-91 record. Associate Head Coach Pete Herrmann finished the 2008-2009 season as the interim head coach.^[3]

During the 2009-2010 NBA season, Felton served on the scouting staff for the Phoenix Suns, mainly observing NCAA games in the southeast. He was also a part of the Suns' war room during the NBA draft in June 2010, led by General Manager Steve Kerr and head coach Alvin Gentry.

On June 28, 2010, the New Jersey Nets announced that Felton would be an assistant coach for their Summer League team. It was not immediately known if Felton would remain a coach with the Nets for the regular season.

Felton is married to the former Melanie Smith, who is also a Howard alumna. The couple reside in Milton, Georgia with their two sons, Jazz and Nile. Jazz and Nile are both basketball players. Jazz was a part of Milton High School's state championship team as a freshman in 2009-2010.

References

1. ^ Schlabach, Mark (2009-01-29). "Sources: Georgia fires Felton". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3868747&campaign=rss&source=NCBHeadlines. Retrieved 2009-01-29. 
2. ^ University of Georgia (2009-01-29). "Sources: Dennis Felton Bio". GeorgiaDogs.com. http://www.georgiadogs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=324049source=NCBHeadlines. Retrieved 2009-01-29. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ USA Today. 2010-09-25. http://blogs.usatoday.com/gameon/2009/01/paper-reports-f.html. ^{[dead link]}

Persondata
Name	Felton, Dennis
Alternative names
Short description	American college basketball coach
Date of birth	June 21, 1963
Place of birth	Tokyo, Japan
Date of death
Place of death