Phillip Reginald Witherspoon (born February 21, 1961) is the head coach of the Canisius College men's basketball team and the former head coach of the University at Buffalo men's college basketball team. Witherspoon played college basketball at Erie Community College under John Beilein and then at Wheeling Jesuit under Jim O'Brien. He was the head coach at Erie Community College, and head coach and assistant coach at Sweet Home High School before he was hired as the interim head coach at Buffalo in December 1999. Witherspoon was named full-time head coach on March 10, 2000. He was the first African American named head coach of a varsity sports team in any Western New York suburban school district. He was fired after the 2012-13 season, finishing his 14 season run with a 198-228 record. Witherspoon served one season as an assistant at Alabama under head coach Anthony Grant. In 2015, Witherspoon was let go by Alabama when Grant was replaced by Avery Johnson. He was subsequently named as an assistant on Matt McCall's staff at UT-Chattanooga. In May 2016, Witherspoon was hired to replace the retiring Jim Baron at Canisius College. Head coaching record * Hired as interim coach after Tim Cohane resigned after 5 games References External links Canisius Golden Griffins bio 1961 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York (state) Buffalo Bulls men's basketball coaches Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball coaches Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Erie Kats men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Sportspeople from Buffalo, New York Wheeling Cardinals men's basketball players Empire State College alumni SUNY Erie alumni