Greg Paulus

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Greg Paulus
Paulus with Duke in 2009
Niagara Purple Eagles
PositionHead coach
LeagueMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Personal information
Born (1986-07-03) July 3, 1986 (age 37)
Medina, Ohio, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High schoolChristian Brothers Academy
(DeWitt, New York)
CollegeDuke (2005–2009)
PositionPoint guard
Number3, 2
Coaching career2010–present
Career history
As coach:
2010–2011Navy (assistant)
2011–2017Ohio State (assistant)
2017–2018Louisville (assistant)
2018–2019George Washington (assistant)
2019–presentNiagara
Career highlights and awards
As player:

Gregory Russell Paulus (born July 3, 1986) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Niagara Purple Eagles men's basketball team. He previously served as an assistant basketball coach for Louisville, Ohio State, and George Washington University. Paulus is a former multi-sport athlete, playing college basketball as a point guard on the Duke University men's team and later football at Syracuse University.

Biography[edit]

Greg Paulus was born in Medina, Ohio, and grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, before moving to the Syracuse suburb of Manlius, New York. He has six siblings: David, Matt, Dan, Chris, Mike, and Sarah. He was named Gatorade Athlete of the Year due to his accomplishments in football and basketball. Paulus was the quarterback of the 2004 Christian Brothers Academy football team, which won the New York State Championship by defeating New Rochelle High School and Ray Rice 41–35 in the title game at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Paulus was also named New York State Mr. Basketball following his senior season at CBA. He was ranked as the number one recruit out of high school.

College basketball[edit]

Paulus received scholarship offers to play football at the University of Miami and Notre Dame.[1] He also received basketball scholarship offers from Duke, Syracuse, Georgetown, Florida, and North Carolina.[2] He chose to play basketball and joined the Duke Blue Devils.

Freshman[edit]

Games: 36, PPG: 6.7, RPG: 2.8, APG: 5.2[3]

Paulus was a member of the Duke team that finished with a 32–4 record and won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular season and tournament championship. Paulus led the ACC in assists per game at 5.2. He set a Duke freshman record for assists in a game with 15 (with three turnovers) in a 104–77 home victory over Valparaiso on December 18, 2005; that assist total was only one away from the all-time single-game Duke record of 16, set by NCAA career assist leader Bobby Hurley. He was selected for the All-America freshman 2nd team.

His 187 assists ranked third behind Bobby Hurley (288 in 1990) and Jay Williams (220 in 2000) among the freshman assist leaders in Duke history.[3]

Sophomore[edit]

Games: 33, PPG: 11.8, RPG: 2.2, APG: 3.8, FG%: 45.6[4]

Paulus injured his foot during the preseason. After the season, associate coach Chris Collins said Paulus struggled because he had a tarsal coalition, and it was corrected through surgery; he has since fully recovered. He had a career-high on March 15, 2007, with 25 points against Virginia Commonwealth.

Junior[edit]

Games: 34, PPG: 11.4, RPG: 2.1, APG: 3.2[3]

Paulus led Duke to a 28–6 record including an 89–78 victory over rival UNC in which Paulus led Duke in scoring with 18 points. Paulus led the Atlantic Coast Conference in assist to turnover ratio during the 2007–08 season and shot over 42 percent from beyond the arc on his way to making 82 three-point field goals.

Senior[edit]

After being the starting point guard for three years, Paulus started only five games during his senior season. Paulus averaged 16 minutes a game, in part due to the development of sophomore guard Nolan Smith.[5]

Football[edit]

Paulus announced on May 14, 2009, that he would play college football at Syracuse University. Paulus was named the starting quarterback for the 2009 season.[6]

He won four games and lost eight during his lone season at Syracuse, completing 67.7 percent of his passes and throwing for 2,025 yards and 13 touchdowns, and threw a school and Big East record 5 interceptions in one game against South Florida.[7]

Professional career[edit]

Paulus tried out with the New Orleans Saints in May 2010. Contrary to initial reports, he was not offered a contract.[8] He got another shot with the Saints in June 2010 when he was again invited to minicamp.

Coaching career[edit]

Paulus was hired as an assistant basketball coach at Navy in August 2010.[9]

Paulus was hired as the basketball video coordinator for Ohio State University in May 2011.[10] Paulus was promoted to assistant coach for Ohio State University in the summer of 2013[11]

In the fall of 2017, Paulus left Ohio State and was hired to be an assistant coach for the Louisville Cardinals under interim head coach David Padgett.[12] Paulus was not retained for assistant under new Louisville head coach Chris Mack following the end of the season.

Paulus was then hired as an assistant coach for the George Washington Colonials men's basketball for the 2018–2019 season[13] and following this season, he returned to New York State and joined the Niagara Purple Eagles men's basketball team to be an assistant coach on Patrick Beilein's staff.[14] On October 24, 2019, Paulus was named Niagara's interim head coach after Beilein resigned for "personal reasons".[15] It was later announced that Paulus would become the permanent head coach.[16]

Head coaching record[edit]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Niagara Purple Eagles (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) (2019–present)
2019–20 Niagara 12–20 9–11 T–6th
2020–21 Niagara 9–11 7–9 5th
2021–22 Niagara 14–16 9–11 5th
2022–23 Niagara 16–15 10–10 T–5th
2023–24 Niagara 16–16 11–9 6th
Niagara: 67–78 (.462) 46–49 (.484)
Total: 67–78 (.462)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Awards and honors[edit]

Awards are for basketball unless otherwise noted.

  • Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year (all sports)[3]
  • 2005 Gatorade New York state Player of the Year[3]
  • Four-time all-state[3]
  • All-America status in 2005 according to McDonald's, Parade, EA and Student Sports[3]
  • New York State Mr. Basketball as a senior[17]
  • National High School Coaches Association senior athlete of the year[3]
  • 2004 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year[18]
  • USA Basketball Junior National Select team for the 2005 Nike Hoops Summit[3]
  • 2005–06 Freshman All-America Second Team[3]
  • 2006 ACC All-Tournament Second Team[3]
  • 2007-08 Third team All-ACC selection[3]
  • 2008 Third Team Academic All-America[19]
  • 2009 Third Team Academic All-America[20]
  • Three-time ACC All-Academic team[21]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Nieto, German (August 29, 2009). "Greg Paulus Announced Starting QB, But Should We Really Be Suprised?". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  2. ^ "BasketballRecruiting.Rivals.com". Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Greg Paulus bio". Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  4. ^ "Greg Paulus". CNNSI.com. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
  5. ^ Parrish, Gary (November 11, 2008). "Putting Paulus on bench a risky move for Coach K". CBS News. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
  6. ^ Bennett, Brian (August 18, 2009). "Paulus named the Orange's starting QB". ESPN. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  7. ^ "Greg Paulus Stats, News, Bio". ESPN.
  8. ^ Rosenthal, Gregg (May 11, 2010). "Greg Paulus is not a member of the Saints". NBC Sports. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  9. ^ "Paulus Joins Coaching Ranks". Archived from the original on August 5, 2010. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  10. ^ Baptist, Bob. "Ohio State men's basketball program hires Paulus as video coordinator". Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
  11. ^ "OhioStateBuckeyes.com Greg Paulus Bio :: The Ohio State University official athletic site :: Men's Basketball". Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  12. ^ Greer, Jeff. "Louisville names Greg Paulus as an assistant basketball coach on David Padgett's staff". The Courier-Journal.
  13. ^ "Paulus Named Assistant Coach for Men's Basketball". George Washington University. June 13, 2018. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  14. ^ Donna Ditota (April 30, 2019). "Patrick Beilein hires Greg Paulus as Niagara basketball assistant coach". Syracuse.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  15. ^ "Greg Paulus Named Interim Head Coach". Niagara University Athletics.
  16. ^ "Greg Paulus to become Niagara's permanent head men's basketball coach". The Buffalo News. November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  17. ^ "NYSSWA reference section: Mr. Basketball awards". Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  18. ^ "Greg Paulus named Gatorade National Player of the Year". USA Today. Associated Press. December 17, 2004. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
  19. ^ "Paulus Named Third Team Academic All-America". Retrieved March 2, 2008.
  20. ^ "2008-09 MBB AAA Teams (PDF) - CoSIDA" (PDF). cosida.com.
  21. ^ The NCAA Tournament's Best Students: Duke's Greg Paulus

External links[edit]