University of Memphis Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Phone:
- 901-678-2346
The upcoming 2017-18 season will be Joe Esposito’s 11th consecutive season in working on a Tubby Smith-led coaching staff, having worked with Smith at Minnesota, Texas Tech and Memphis.
He comes into his second season with the Tigers with nearly three decades of coaching experience, including 27 in the collegiate level.
While at Memphis, he helped secure the top recruiting class in the American Athletic Conference with eight total newcomers.
Most recently Esposito spent three seasons at Texas Tech, where his responsibilities included player development, scouting, and recruiting. He helped Texas Tech accrue its best recruiting classes in more than a decade during the final couple of seasons.
He worked as Director of Basketball Operations for six seasons on Smith’s staff at Minnesota, where he handled all administrative duties for the Golden Gopher basketball program. He also coordinated all aspects of the Tubby Smith Basketball Camps and Clinics, while also aiding in recruiting when being elevated to an assistant coach on a fill-in basis.
Before his time in Minnesota, he handled the head coaching duties for a season at Villages Charter High School, located in Central Florida. He led the Buffaloes to their best record in school history, and to the Class 3A District 7 Semifinals.
Over his eight seasons at Angelo State, his program won 118 games, and he became the second head coach in program history to reel off five consecutive winning seasons, and has three of Angelo State’s 10 highest single-season win totals at the time. He left the school with the highest winning percentage during the NCAA Division II era.
During his first season at Angelo State, Esposito helped facilitate the best turnaround in NCAA Division II during the 1998-99 season by a rookie head coach. He improved ASU’s win total by six games, and the Rams came away with their first winning season since 1994-95.
He led the Rams to the Lone Star Conference South Division Championship, and the program’s third NCAA Division II Tournament berth during the 2000-01 season. Angelo State won 13 of its final 16 games, and racked up a 22-8 record. The 22 wins was equal to the 1983-84 and 1987-88 squads for the school’s single-season wins mark, and the 11-1 conference record matched the 1987-88 team for the best in school history. For his efforts, Esposito was named the LSC South Coach of the Year.
During his time at ASU, he was selected to coach the United States team of NCAA Division II All-Stars for America Sports International during the summer of 2005. The team captured the gold medal at the Gianni Ernesto Cup.
Esposito played a vital role for the Tennessee State Tigers from 1995-98, and was responsible for recruiting three Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year award winners. His 1996-97 and 1997-98 recruiting classes were ranked among the nation’s top 30 by Hoop Scoop. He also worked as an academic counselor while at Tennessee State.
He took over as interim head coach at NCAA Division II powerhouse Assumption College in 1995 after a six-year stint as assistant and associate head coach. The Greyhounds rattled off three straight Northeast-10 Conference Championships, and notched a pair of NCAA Division II regional appearances. Assumption also set single-season records for wins and winning streaks at the school with Esposito on staff.
Esposito also worked as an assistant coach at Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park, New York, a student assistant coach at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and spent time as an assistant coach at the Bay State and Empire State games.
A native of The Bronx, New York, Esposito received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science in 1988 from Marist College, and a Master of Science degree in sports administration and coaching from the United States Sports Academy in Mobile, Alabama in 1990 – graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
He and his wife, Mary, have two sons, Jordan Michael and Jacob O’Neal, along with two daughters, Shay Lynn and Harmony.
