Guilford College Men's Basketball Coaching Staff |
Head Coach Jack Jensen
Significant among Jensen’s list of accomplishments is the 1973 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) men’s basketball title, Guilford’s first national title of any kind. The unseeded Quakers advanced to the tournament final and completed their improbable run with a 99-96 triumph over Maryland-Eastern Shore in the championship game. Future NBA stars M.L. Carr and World B. Free played prominent roles on the championship team, the first unseeded squad to win the title. The Quakers also made NAIA Tournament appearances in 1976 and 1989 and advanced to the District 26 finals on three occasions. A member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, Jensen won two District 26 Coach of the Year awards. Along with Carr and Free, he coached Guilford All-Americans Jerry Crocker, Greg Jackson, David Smith, Gary Devlin and Sam Kennedy. Jensen also served as an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning South Team at the 1979 National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, CO. Jensen joined Guilford’s coaching staff in 1965 after coaching basketball at Elkin (NC) High School for two seasons. He served as Jerry Steele’s assistant coach of the men’s basketball team for five seasons, during which time the Quakers posted a 114-36 record and earned four trips to the NAIA National Tournament. Jensen assumed control of the club in 1970 when Steele left Guilford to coach the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association. The second person to coach two different teams to NAIA titles, Jensen also directs the Quakers’ highly successful men’s golf program. He started coaching the golf squad in 1977 and the Quakers have missed only two national tournaments in his 20-year tenure, finishing 10th or higher 12 times. The 1989 team won the NAIA crown. Jensen maintained his winning ways when Guilford moved to the NCAA Division III ranks in 1991. The Quakers have qualified for the Division III National Tournament in each of their six seasons, finishing fifth in 1997. A native of Bloomfield, NJ, Jensen graduated from Wake Forest University in 1961 where he worked his way onto the basketball team as a senior. Under Coach Horace "Bones" McKinney, Jensen played alongside the likes of Len Chappell and Billy Packer. He graduated from Wake Forest and received a master’s degree in education from UNC Greensboro in 1966. Jensen and his wife, Marsha, live in Greensboro with their two children. Laura graduated from Guilford in 1997, while Dennis is a sophomore at Guilford. |
When someone thinks about Guilford College
men’s basketball, it’s not long before Jack Jensen comes to mind. The
school’s career coaching wins leader, Jensen begins his 29th season at the helm of
the Quakers’ hoop squad. He boasts a 383-371 overall record and a national
championship in his 28 seasons on the sidelines. Four National Basketball Association
(NBA) players competed collegiately under Jensen as did four additional Guilford
men’s basketball All-Americans.
