| James Whitford | |
| Current Title: | Assistant coach |
| Current Team: | Rhode Island |
| Current Conference: | Atlantic 10 |
| Birth Date: | 23 July 1971 |
| Alma Mater: | Wisconsin (1994) |
| Coach Years1: | 1997–2005 |
| Coach Team1: | Miami (OH) (assistant) |
| Coach Years2: | 2005–2009 |
| Coach Team2: | Xavier (assistant) |
| Coach Years3: | 2009–2011 |
| Coach Team3: | Arizona (assistant) |
| Coach Years4: | 2011–2013 |
| Coach Team4: | Arizona (associate HC) |
| Coach Years5: | 2013–2022 |
| Coach Team5: | Ball State |
| Coach Years6: | 2024–present |
| Coach Team6: | Rhode Island (assistant) |
| Overall Record: | 131–148 |
| Championships: | 3 MAC West Division (2016, 2017, 2020) |
James Bryce Whitford[1] (born July 23, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and the former head coach of the Ball State Cardinals men's basketball program. Before he was hired at Ball State, Whitford served as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio), Xavier, and Arizona where he was instrumental to those teams reaching the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen.[2] Amongst peers, Whitford is known for his predictive analytics, work ethic, defensive schemes, recruiting and relationship building. Whitford is married to Alexa Teare, an Organizational Psychology/Talent Executive and Leadership Development Coach. He has two sons with his former wife, Amber Stocks.
While enrolled at the University of Wisconsin - Madison Whitford spent three seasons as a student manager for the Badgers men's basketball team. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1994.[3]
Whitford's first professional coaching experience was with the Miami RedHawks men's basketball program. Starting as an administrative assistant 1994, he became an assistant coach in 1997 and advanced to top assistant in 1998.[4]
In 2005 Whitford left Miami for Xavier, where he spent four seasons under head coach Sean Miller before following Miller to Arizona in April 2009.[5] After his first two seasons at Arizona Whitford was promoted to associate head coach, a position he held for another two years before taking the head coaching position at Ball State in April 2013.[3] [6] On March 14, 2022, Ball State fired Whitford after nine years as head coach.[7]
In 2024, Whitford joined Miller's brother Archie's coaching staff at Rhode Island as an assistant coach. Whitford and Archie Miller had previously served as assistant coaches together at Arizona.[8]