Jared Phay begins his fifth season as the College of Southern Idaho head men's basketball coach.
Phay joined the Golden Eagles in 2014 after 10 years as the North Idaho College head coach and made an impact immediately at CSI. Phay led the Golden Eagles to a 31-3 record, a Scenic West Athletic Conference Championship, a Region 18 Championship and a district championship in 2014-15. CSI fell in its first game at the national tournament, tying for 9th. Not only were the Golden Eagles one of the top teams in the nation on the court, they excelled off the court, ranking 7th in the nation in gpa and earning academic team honors nationally. After an injury plagued season in 2015-16, the Golden Eagles reloaded and won the Region 18 Championship in 2016-2017, going on to take 9th in the nation. The team dominated in the classroom as well, finishing with the second highest gpa in the country. This past season, Phay led the Golden Eagles to a runner-up finish at the NJCAA National Championships.
In his four years with CSI, he has posted an impressive 112-25 overall record.
One of the reason's CSI Athletic Director Joel Bate hired Phay was because he was the whole package.
"We have watched him grow. We have watched his program through the years and Jared does things the right way." Bate said.
During his time with the Cardinals, he was named Region 18 Coach of the Year three times. He won Scenic West Athletic Conference Championships in 2006, 2009 and 2010. The last seven years, he has posted 20 wins or more and has 221 career wins at North Idaho.
In 2010-2011, Phay led the Cardinals to their first ever No. 1 national ranking in school history from Nov. 23, 2010 to Jan. 4, 2011.
Academics are very important to Phay. In 2011-2012, his Cardinal team was one of only 10 NJCAA basketball teams in the country to earn Academic All-American status.
Phay assisted at North Idaho from 2003-2005 and prior to that he was an assistant coach at Motlow State CC for one season. Before that he had stints as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Idaho, head coach at Falls Christian Academy and assistant coach at Falls Christian Academy.
A Post Falls, Idaho native, Phay graduated from North Idaho College before earning bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Idaho in physical education. He is married to Tamara Phay, who teaches n the Twin Falls School District. They have three children - Carson, Makenzie and Colton.
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