Tubby Smith Basketball Camp Staff 

Associate Head Coach Ron Jirsa

This is Ron Jirsa’s fourth stop with Head Coach Tubby Smith in his 26-year collegiate coaching career. Smith and Jirsa first began their working relationship at Virginia Commonwealth, where both served under coach J.D. Barnett during the 1984-85 season. The Rams finished 26-6 that season, winning the Sun Belt Conference title and playing in the NCAA Tournament. They reunited when Smith hired Jirsa as an assistant at Tulsa before the 1991-92 season. Three years later, Jirsa was named Associate Head Coach of the Golden Hurricane.

Jirsa, 47, accompanied Smith to Georgia when he took over the Bulldog program in 1995. For two years, he served as Associate Head Coach for Smith at Georgia before serving as head coach from 1997-99. His Bulldog squads posted a combined 35-30 record. During his time in Athens, the Bulldogs put together back-to-back recruiting classes that were rated among the top-five in the nation by several recruiting analysts. Jirsa’s teams also made two NIT appearances. In his first season, UGA posted a 20-15 record, only the seventh 20-win season in UGA history, en route to a third-place finish in the NIT. Jirsa’s Bulldogs put together a 4-1 record in the postseason with wins over Iowa, North Carolina State, Vanderbilt and Fresno State in March 1998.

In his six seasons with Smith, Jirsa helped four consecutive teams win at least 21 games and reach the NCAA Tournament each season. The first three of those – two at Tulsa and one at Georgia – reached the “Sweet Sixteen.” He also coached Jumaine Jones, who was a first round NBA Draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks in 1999.

Jirsa spent the previous four seasons as head coach at Marshall University. The Thundering Herd went 13-19 in 2006-07, losing to Memphis in the Conference USA Tournament Quarterfinals. Marshall had several big wins during Jirsa’s four-year tenure. The Herd notched victories over NCAA Tournament teams UAB and Western Michigan in 2003-04, and in 2004-05, Marshall knocked off eventual Elite Eight participant West Virginia in the two teams’ annual game in Charleston. In 2005-06, the Herd won its first game against a top-10 opponent when Jirsa’s club defeated No. 9 West Virginia again in Charleston.

Prior to his arrival at Marshall, Jirsa was the senior assistant coach at Dayton under then-head coach Oliver Purnell for four seasons. During his stint at UD, the Flyers posted an 88-39 overall record, made two NCAA Tournament and two NIT appearances. In 2002-03, Dayton posted a 24-6 record, won the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship, advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a four seed, and finished the season ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation in the final Associated Press and USA Today polls.

Jirsa has coached in 27 postseason games overall, 16 of those in the NCAA Tournament and has appeared in postseason play 13 years. He owns a career record of 78-104 in six years as a head coach at Marshall and Georgia.

Jirsa began his coaching career as an assistant at Connecticut College following his graduation from Gettysburg College in 1981. Two years later, he moved on to the University of Delaware and spent one season with the Blue Hens before taking a graduate assistant position with a VCU program that finished ranked 11th in the nation in 1984-85.

He then took an assistant position at Tulsa for three seasons (1985-88) before making one- year stops at Belmont Abbey (1988-89), and Gardner-Webb (1990-91). At Tulsa, Jirsa coached with former Golden Gopher Flip Saunders. In 1991, he returned to Tulsa as an assistant under Smith before being promoted to associate head coach in 1994.

Jirsa earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Gettysburg College in 1981 and a Master of Arts in Athletic Administration from the University of Tulsa in 1987. He was a three-sport letterwinner at Ledyard High School in Ledyard, Connecticut. He and his wife Laura have one daughter, Hannah (7).