What They Are Saying About Billy Mims (PDF)
Billy Mims is in his seventh season as Florida Tech’s head men’s basketball coach, 25th season as a head coach and 31st season coaching overall.
Entering the 2011-12 campaign, Mims is just 12 victories shy of 500 in his coaching career. He also enters the season as Florida Tech’s third-most all-time winning head coach with 83 wins. He is trailing only Andy Russo (125 wins) and FIT Hall of Famer Tom Folliard Sr. (124 wins).
Since he took over the Florida Tech program, he has coached 10 All-SSC players, 11 SSC Players of the Week, four All-South Region players, one Division II Bulletin National Player of the Month, one SSC Freshman of the Year (Derek Hellemann), two SSC Freshman of the Year runner-ups, one Daktronics All-South Region Player of the Year and one Daktronics Second Team All-American.
The Panthers are coming off a strong 19-win season in 2010-11. Three wins were against nationally ranked opponents at home on the Clemente Center floor. Under his guidance, Justin Sedlak became the program’s second All-American and is now in his rookie professional season with Caceres in Spain. In addition to his All-American award, he won several conference and regional awards, including Daktronics South Region Player of the Year in 2011. He closed out his Panther career as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,896 points.
Mims led the Panthers to the program’s fifth 20-win season in 2007-08. They began the year with 11 straight wins. Their hot started propelled them to the program’s highest national ranking ever at No. 11. Mims was rewarded for his team’s play by being selected Division II Bulletin National Coach of the Month for December. FIT went on to post a winning conference record for the first time in nine years, largely due to the play of All-American candidate Carl McNally. McNally signed a professional contract with the Milton Keynes Lions in the British Basketball League (BBL) following the season. Five of Mims’ former Panthers have gone on to play professionally overseas at the completion of their collegiate careers.
Mims came to Florida Tech after one season at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB). At UTPB, he set the school record for wins, compiling more victories in one season than the Falcons combined to achieve in the program’s first two years of existence. He produced one NAIA National Player of the Week, Rashad Pride, one NAIA All-American and First Team All-Red River Athletic Conference selection, Marlo Saunders, and one NAIA Academic All-American, Travis Levie. He helped both Saunders and his brother Marcus launch professional careers in London, England, after graduating from UTPB.
He is no stranger to the highly competitive Sunshine State Conference. He spent six seasons as the head coach of Barry University from 1989-94. During his tenure, Barry was ranked as high as seventh in the NCAA Division II South Region. He was the first coach to guide Barry to a SSC Tournament Championship game. In 1993, he produced Barry’s first-ever Basketball Times First Team All-American, Anthel Hicks. He also coached two All-South Region players, six All-SSC players, two All-SSC Tournament players, six SSC All-Freshman Team members and one SSC Freshman of the Year, Bobby Latham, in 1991.
After coaching at Barry, Mims spent 11 years in the British professional ranks, serving as head coach and director of player personnel for two different clubs: London Leopards and Leicester Riders. In the U.K., he captured three national championships in 1997, 1998 and 2001 and was named league Coach of the Year twice in 1998 by the BBL and 2001 by The Sun, England’s largest daily newspaper. He guided both of his English clubs to National Cup Championships as well - London in 1997 and Leicester in 2001. He was also voted by BBL fans to coach in the prestigious BBL All-Star game on two occasions.
From 1995-96, he was an assistant coach for England’s Senior Men’s National Team in charge of advance scouting of all European opponents.
Mims’ first-ever head coaching job was with Neptune Basketball Club in Cork, Ireland. He led the club to the 1987 Irish National League Championship. He then guided Neptune to the 1987 National Top Four Championship for the first time in the club’s history.
He has spent time as an assistant and associate head coach at four different colleges: College of Charleston (S.C.), Lander College (S.C.), Winthrop College (S.C.) and Chowan College (N.C.).
Mims graduated as the valedictorian from Berkeley High School (Moncks Corner, S.C.) in 1978 and is a 1981 Magna Cum Laude graduate of The Baptist College at Charleston (S.C.).
He has spoken and coached at numerous clinics, including the FIBA International Coaching Clinic held in conjunction with the men's World Championships at Istanbul, Turkey in September 2010. He has been extremely active in the community with his “Read to Succeed” program, both in London and Florida, and his highly popular “Slam Dunk Smoking” program in England, Texas and Florida. Highly sought after as a motivational speaker, Mims has entertained organizations around the world such as Accenture, Investors in People and DynCorp International. He has also been active in his local church, serving as a Lay Eucharistic Minister at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Cocoa Village since 2007.
Mims has served as a studio analyst for the NBA All-Star Game and NBA Finals for over 10 years on European television. He hosted his own radio show, "1 on 1," on BBC Radio in the U.K. and "The Billy Mims Show" on ESPN Radio on the Space Coast.
Mims and his wife Lynne reside in Viera with their children Courtney, Callie and Josh.
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