Ron Hunter was introduced as the 25th men's basketball head coach in Tulane history on March 26, 2019 and enters his fourth season leading the program in 2022-23.
Hunter's culture started to sink in during his third year at the head of the program. Tulane won 14 games which tied for their most wins since the 2017-18 campaign. The Wave won nine home games and ten conference games, their most since joining the American.
In his second season, Hunter led the program into the second round of the AAC tournament. A feat they hadn't accomplished since 2016.
In his first season leading the Green Wave, Hunter made the program’s impact felt nationally and across the American Athletic Conference. Tulane secured a neutral court win over Utah, marking the team’s first win over Pac-12 Conference opponent since the 1950’s. The Green Wave also posted league wins over Cincinnati and SMU at home, as well as road victories over UCF and Temple.
Hunter arrived at Tulane after spending eight seasons at the helm of Georgia State University’s program where he compiled a record of 171-95. In 25 years on the bench, Hunter owns a career record of 457-332 and has been named conference coach of the year three times. His 374 wins at the Division I level prior to taking the helm in New Orleans made him the winningest coach ever hired to lead Green Wave basketball.
During his eight-year tenure at GSU, Hunter directed the Panthers to six postseason appearances, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament in his final five seasons.
Ron Hunter significantly changed the national perception of the Georgia State program. Prior to his arrival, the Panthers had broken .500 just nine times in 49 years. During Hunter's eight-year tenure at GSU, he directed the Panthers to seven winning seasons and is responsible for six of the nine most successful seasons in program history.
His stint at Georgia State also featured three Sun Belt Conference titles in the last five years. In 2014-15, the Panthers won 25 games and advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament following the shocking upset of No. 3 seed Baylor.
It was the 2014-15 season that put Georgia State on the map. After winning the Sun Belt regular season title for the second year in a row, the Panthers claimed the tournament title for just the third time in program history. In the postgame celebration, Hunter tore his Achilles, a clip that went viral across the nation.
Coaching in the NCAA tournament from a stool, the Panthers trailed by 12 with 2:53 to play, before mounting a furious 13-0 run, capped by a 30-foot 3-pointer from son R.J. that sent Hunter off his stool and became one of the most watched clips of the tournament and a part of 'One Shining Moment.'
Prior to his arrival at GSU, Hunter spent 17 seasons at IUPUI, where he guided the program through its transition from the NAIA and Division II levels into NCAA Division I and the Summit League. He is the school's winningest coach, both in number of victories and winning percentage, and he led IUPUI to its only appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2003 in just the school's third season as a Division I program.
Named Summit League Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2006, Hunter led IUPUI to the conference championship game five times from 2002-10, including the 2003 title game victory over top-seeded Valparaiso. Between 2005 and 2010, the Jaguars never finished lower than fourth in the league standings under Hunter, including runner-up finishes in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
Hunter also established a reputation for developing players, as he has coached 27 all-conference honorees and five conference player of the year selections during his head-coaching career at Georgia State and IUPUI.
He also mentored George Hill at IUPUI, who was drafted in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft (26th selection) by the San Antonio Spurs. Seven years later, he would see his son R.J. Hunter get selected in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics.
Prior to his arrival at IUPUI, Hunter spent one year as the top assistant coach at his alma mater, Miami University (Ohio), under former Arizona State head coach Herb Sendek. During that season, the Redhawks were 19-10, finishing second in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and making an appearance in the postseason National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
Hunter's coaching career began in 1987, when he served as an assistant at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Off the court, Hunter earned national notoriety for his humanitarian efforts, partnering with
Samaritan's Feet, an organization that collects shoes for underprivileged children around the world.
Hunter’s resume includes numerous national honors including an NABC Guardians of the Game Pillar Award for Service, the 2009 Giant Steps Award from the National Consortium for Academics and Sport (NCAS), a Minority Achievement Award from the Center for Leadership Development (CLD) and the 2018 Gene Bartow Award.
He was one of seven head coaches who served on the Division I Basketball Academic Enhancement Group, as appointed by late NCAA President Myles Brand, and he is a member of the National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) Board of Directors. He served as President of the NABC in 2015-16 and served on an ad hoc committee to the NCAA Selection Committee in 2016-17.
He was honored by the American Diabetes Association in May 2015 as its Father of the Year and a week later earned the Positive Collegiate Coach of the Year at the Georgia Positive Athlete Awards.
Hunter earned his bachelor's degree in education at Miami (Ohio) in 1986 and added a master's in 1987. He was a standout player on strong Miami teams of the mid-1980s, along with high school and college teammate Ron Harper, who went on to enjoy a long NBA career. The Redhawks were 81-30 during Hunter's four-year career and earned three consecutive NCAA tournament berths while winning two MAC championships.
Hunter and his wife, Amy, have two children, Jasmine (28) and R.J. (23).
