Radford University Athletics

Radford University Men's Basketball Timeline
(1974 - Present)

1974
Coached by Dr. Chuck Taylor, who was also the school’s first athletic director, the Highlanders won their final two games of the year to clinch a winning record in the school’s first year of competition. Wallace Foster averaged 22.4 ppg, setting a record for the highest scoring average that stood for 31 years.

1978
After four consecutive winning seasons, Dr. Chuck Taylor stepped aside as the basketball coach to assume full-time athletic director duties. Joe Davis was named as his replacement.

1979
Joe Davis finished his first season on the Highlander bench with a record of 23-4, including a school record 19-game winning streak. Included on that team was current North Carolina assistant coach Steve Robinson.

December 9, 1981
The Highlanders defeated Pembroke State, 56-53, before a capacity crowd in the first game ever played in the Dedmon Center. The Dedmon Center was the 10th permanent structure in the United States with an air-supported fabric roof built.

1984
Radford, a charter member of the Big South Conference, began its first season of play as a Division I member by going 16-12.

1988
The Highlanders made their first-ever appearance in the Big South Conference title game, losing 71-56 to Winthrop. RU finished the season with a record of 16-14. After guiding the Highlanders to 165 wins, Joe Davis steps aside as the team’s head coach and Oliver Purnell takes over.

1991
RU opened the year with a school-record eight straight wins and went on to post a 22-7 overall record. It was RU’s first 20-win season as a Division I member.

April 10, 1991
After one year as an assistant coach, Ron Bradley took over for Oliver Purnell as head coach, becoming the fourth coach in school history.

1992
Bradley’s first squad etched their place in Highlander history by going 20-9 and capturing the Big South regular season title. The team, which rallied from a second half deficit in 12 of its 20 wins, was dubbed the “Never-Say-Die-landers” by the local media.

February 4, 1993
Doug Day hit his NCAA-record 364th career trey against Campbell. Day, who is still RU’s all-time leading scorer, finished his career with 401 3-pointers.

1993
Doug Day became the first, and to date, the only player in school history to surpass 2,000 points.

1993-94
Widely regarded as one of the best teams in school history, the 1993-94 squad finished the season with a record of 20-8 but suffered a heartbreaking loss to Campbell in the semifinals of the Big South Tournament. On Dec. 30, The Highlanders went to Baton Rouge, La., and defeated LSU, 73-72, on a last second jumper by RU great Don Burgess.

1997
Anthony Walker became RU’s career assists leader with 510. He also finished second in career points (1,601) and steals (183).

February 28, 1998
Kevin Robinson scooped up an offensive rebound and drained a 14-footer at the buzzer in the Highlanders a 63-61 win over UNCA giving Radford its first ever Big South Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth. The shot capped RU’s improbable rally from a 17-point first-half deficit.

March 12, 1998
The Highlanders lose to Duke, 99-63, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Radford, the 16th seed, played in front of a then-school record 16,824 fans in the South Region contest held in Lexington, Ky., at Rupp Arena.

February 24, 2001
Radford closed out a perfect 10-0 record at home with a win over Liberty. The Highlanders ran their Big South home streak to 18 winning 27 out of their last 29 home conference games.

March 21, 2002
Dr. Ron Bradley stepped down as head coach after posting a record of 193-124 in 11 seasons.

April 8, 2002
Radford named Byron Samuels the school’s fifth head coach. Samuels served as Bradley’s assistant during the 2001-02 season.

March 7, 2003
Samuels led sixth-seeded Radford to an upset of second-seeded Liberty on their own floor in his first season as head coach. Radford advanced to the finals of the Big South Championship for the fourth time in six years.

2006
Whit Holcomb-Faye finished with 669 points, the best single-season effort in Radford history and third best in Big South history. He also finished second in points at Radford with 1,856 and third in the Big South all-time.

2007
Byron Samuels resigns his head coaching position prior to the start of the season. He finished with a 58-87 record in five years. Chris Oliver finishes his career ranked third at Radford in scoring with 1,659 points.

March 23, 2007
Brad Greenberg is hired as Radford University’s sixth head coach after serving the previous three years as Virginia Tech’s associate head coach.

November 14, 2008
With renovations to the Dedmon Center ongoing, Radford makes its first appearance in 500-seat Peters Hall since Feb. 24, 1981 with a season-opening 74-55 win over Brevard.

January 21, 2009
Following nearly $16 million worth of renovations on the Dedmon Center, including the replacement of its air-supported roof, the Highlanders re-opened the building in front of a capacity crowd with a Big South first-place battle against VMI.

March 7, 2009
Behind a Big South tournament record scoring performance, Radford won its second conference tournament title with a nationally-televised 108-94 win over VMI at the Dedmon Center. Art Parakhouski, an AP Honorable Mention All-American, was named tournament MVP after a 26-point, 18-rebound performance to lead the Highlanders to their second NCAA Tournament appearance.

March 19, 2009
Before a school-record 20,226 fans at the Greensboro Coliseum, 16th-seeded Radford made its second NCAA Tournament appearance, falling to eventual national champion and South Region No. 1 seed North Carolina 101-58. The Highlanders closed out the season winning 17 of their last 20 games on the way to the school’s seventh 20-win year.

June 14, 2011
Mike Jones named the seventh head men's basketball coach in Radford program history. Jones was a part of the VCU staff that made a trip to the Final Four with the Rams.

March 19, 2014
Radford defeats Oregon State on the road in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), 96-92. The win is the first NCAA postseason victory in school history and the 22nd of the season, which ties the Division I school record in a single season.

March 4, 2018
Hosting the Big South Championship game in front of a sellout crowd at the Dedmon Center, No. 2 Radford tops No. 5 Liberty, 55-52, thanks to Carlik Jones' buzzer-beating, game-winning three-pointer to clinch the program's third conference title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

March 13, 2018
With the nation's eyes squarely on the Highlanders as they played in the NCAA First Four in Dayton, Radford defeated LIU Brooklyn, 71-61, for the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history. The win also marked a program-record 23rd win on the season. Radford would go on to face No. 1 Villanova (the eventual National Champions) in the next round.