University of Tennessee at Martin athletic director Kurt McGuffin has found a proven winner to lead the Skyhawk men’s basketball program, hiring Jeremy Shulman as the 13th head coach in program history.
A formal press conference and public reception to officially introduce Shulman will take place next week with dates and times to be announced at a later date.
A Nashville, Tenn. native, Shulman has spent the last 14 seasons as head coach at Eastern Florida State College in Cocoa, Fla. In that span, he became the program’s all-time wins leader (346 victories) and elevated the Titans to a national powerhouse – piling up 11 conference championships in the last 12 seasons with a pair of Final Four and three Elite Eight appearances in the NJCAA Division I Tournament. He won 80.1 percent (153-38 record) of his conference contests at the helm of Eastern Florida State.
“I could not have envisioned a better candidate to build off our program’s recent success than Coach Shulman,” McGuffin said. “He is passionate, energetic and has ties to Tennessee. He has been responsible for one of the most well-run and winningest junior college programs in the country and is a rising star in the coaching profession. We welcome Coach Shulman and his family to Skyhawk Nation.”
A nine-time conference Coach of the Year, Shulman averaged 24.7 wins per season at Eastern Florida State (formerly known as Brevard Community College) – a number that includes 18 wins during the COVID-19 shortened season. He won 76.4 percent of his games (346-107) after taking over a Titan squad that was coming off a seven-win season and had not been to the postseason in 11 consecutive years. He built the program to annual national contenders as Eastern Florida State finished as national runner-up in 2016-17 and third nationally the following season. The 44-year-old was inducted into the Florida College System Activities Association Hall of Fame in 2023.
“I want to thank Chancellor Dr. Yancy Freeman and athletic director Kurt McGuffin for this opportunity,” Shulman said. “I am humbled and grateful to be head coach of the UT Martin Skyhawks. Having a chance to return to my home state and inherit a Division I program that is coming off an Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship is a dream come true.”
Shulman won at least 18 games in all 14 seasons at Eastern Florida State, while posting a dozen 20-win seasons and a pair of 30-win campaigns. He placed at least four players on an all-conference team in every season, mentoring 78 all-league selections and six conference Players of the Year.
From 2014-19, the Titans went 146-28 – an .839 winning percentage while averaging 29.2 wins over a five-season stretch. That included back-to-back 30-win campaigns (31-6 in 2016-17, 30-5 in 2017-18) and an unblemished 15-0 conference record in 2015-16.
Plenty of history was made during Shulman’s first three years in charge of Eastern Florida State. His first season (2010-11) included the program’s first state tournament in 11 years while the 21 victories in 2011-12 were the program’s most since 2000. The following season, the Titans achieved their first Southern Conference title in 13 years, starting a string of 10 consecutive seasons with a conference championship while also adding a title in 2023-24.
Shulman has additionally taken part in other coaching ventures as he was a court coach during the 2017 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup training camp as well as serving as the head coach of The JUCO Products roster in the 10th annual “The Basketball Tournament” (TBT) – a 64-team single-elimination tournament in 2023.
In addition to his success on the hardwood, Shulman preached academic success as his Titan program boasted a remarkable graduation rate of 98 percent. His 2020-21 squad earned a 3.34 Grade Point Average – the sixth-highest amongst all NJCAA men’s basketball programs.
Before his first collegiate head coaching job, Shulman spent three seasons (2007-10) as an assistant coach under Mark White at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Miss. He was part of a Lions turnaround that included an 11-14 record in his first year, followed by records of 17-11 and a record-setting 27-7 campaign in his final year in Scooba. After a semifinal round state and regional tournament appearance in his second season, the 2009-10 East Mississippi squad was ranked No. 12 nationally (highest in school history), won a program-record 27 games and qualified for the NJCAA Tournament for the first time ever after winning the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament championship. Shulman also was part of the program’s first-ever Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges North Division regular season championship.
Shulman’s first taste of coaching came at the AAU level as he was the youngest coach in Tennessee AAU history (16). In 1998, he founded the Midstate Ballerz Elite AAU program as a senior in high school, serving as head coach and program director. He won 415 games over 10 seasons while churning out a trio of state championships and three national top-12 finishes, including a fourth-place performance in 2005. During his tenure with Midstate Ballerz, 126 players went on to earn scholarships at the collegiate level, including 60 at the NCAA Division I level. A sampling of Ballerz Elite AAU alumni includes Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado (2010 NBA Draft pick) and Tennessee’s Scotty Hopson (2007-08 McDonald’s All-American).
Coaching runs in the Shulman family as Jeremy’s uncle John was just hired to lead the Central Arkansas program after also serving as head coach at Chattanooga (2004-13) and Alabama-Huntsville (2019-24).
Shulman graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a double minor in athletic coaching and psychology. He is married to the former Evi Vilde of Riga, Latvia (a former All-Conference USA volleyball player at Central Florida) and the couple has three children, Jordan, Mila and Giannis.