# Ray Harper (basketball)

Lilburn Ray Harper Jr. (born October 11, 1961) is an American college basketball coach, currently head coach for Jacksonville State University. Previously, he was head coach at Oklahoma City University, Kentucky Wesleyan College, and Western Kentucky University. At Kentucky Wesleyan Harper compiled a 242–45 win–loss record.
He has been named the Division II National Coach of the Year seven times and won two national titles at Kentucky Wesleyan in 1999 and 2001.
Harper was named interim head coach at Western Kentucky on January 6, 2012, after Ken McDonald was fired. He was named permanent head coach on February 19, 2012, by then-athletic director Ross Bjork. He resigned from the position on March 17, 2016, following the permanent suspension of three of his players. Harper was subsequently hired at Jacksonville State on April 6, 2016, where he took the 2016–17 team to the school's first NCAA appearance.
Born in Greenville, Kentucky and a native of Bremen, Kentucky, Harper played collegiately at the University of Texas as a freshman and at Kentucky Wesleyan, during his sophomore-senior seasons, where he was named third team NABC All-American as a senior in 1985.
He is married to Shannon Harper, a WKU alumna.

## Head coaching record

Statistics overview :
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
| Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers (Great Lakes Valley Conference) (1996–2005) ||||||
| 1996–97 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 21–8 | 14–6 | 5th | |
| 1997–98 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 30–3 | 17–2 | 1st | NCAA Division II runner-up |
| 1998–99 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 35–1 | 20–1 | 1st | NCAA Division II champion |
| 1999–00 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 31–3 | 18–2 | 1st | NCAA Division II runner-up |
| 2000–01 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 31–3 | 17–3 | 2nd | NCAA Division II champion |
| 2001–02 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 31–3 | 19–1 | 1st | NCAA Division II runner-up |
| 2002–03 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 31–4* | 18–2* | 1st* | NCAA Division II runner-up* |
| 2003–04 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 22–8* | 14–6* | 3rd* | NCAA Division II first round* |
| 2004–05 | Kentucky Wesleyan | 15–13 | 9–11 | 6th | |
| Kentucky Wesleyan: | Kentucky Wesleyan: | 247–46* (.843) | 146–34* (.811) | | |
| Oklahoma City Stars (Sooner Athletic Conference) (2005–2008) ||||||
| 2005–06 | Oklahoma City | 29–8 | 16–2 | 1st | NAIA Division I runner-up |
| 2006–07 | Oklahoma City | 35–2 | 17–1 | 1st | NAIA Division I champions |
| 2007–08 | Oklahoma City | 31–7 | 18–4 | 1st | NAIA Division I champions |
| Oklahoma City NAIA: | Oklahoma City NAIA: | 95–17 (.848) | 51–7 (.879) | | |
| Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (Sun Belt Conference) (2012–2014) ||||||
| 2011–12 | Western Kentucky | 11–8 | 6–7 | 3rd (East) | NCAA Division I Round of 64 |
| 2012–13 | Western Kentucky | 20–16 | 10–10 | 4th (East) | NCAA Division I Round of 64 |
| 2013–14 | Western Kentucky | 21–12 | 12–6 | 2nd | |
| Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (Conference USA) (2014–2016) ||||||
| 2014–15 | Western Kentucky | 20–12 | 12–6 | 4th | |
| 2015–16 | Western Kentucky | 18–16 | 8–10 | 8th | |
| Western Kentucky: | Western Kentucky: | 89–64 (.582) | 48–39 (.552) | | |
| Jacksonville State Gamecocks (Ohio Valley Conference) (2016–2021) ||||||
| 2016–17 | Jacksonville State | 20–15 | 9–7 | 4th | NCAA Division I Round of 64 |
| 2017–18 | Jacksonville State | 23–13 | 11–7 | 4th | CBI semifinals |
| 2018–19 | Jacksonville State | 24–9 | 15–3 | 2nd | |
| 2019–20 | Jacksonville State | 13–19 | 8–10 | 7th | |
| 2020–21 | Jacksonville State | 18–9 | 13–6 | 4th | |
| Jacksonville State Gamecocks (ASUN Conference) (2021–2023) ||||||
| 2021–22 | Jacksonville State | 21–11 | 13–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I Round of 64 |
| 2022–23 | Jacksonville State | 13–18 | 6–12 | T–11th | |
| Jacksonville State Gamecocks (Conference USA) (2023–present) ||||||
| 2023–24 | Jacksonville State | 14–18 | 6–10 | 8th | |
| 2024–25 | Jacksonville State | 22–12 | 12–6 | T–2nd | NIT |
| Jacksonville State: | Jacksonville State: | 168–124 (.575) | 93–64 (.592) | | |
| Total: | Total: | 504–234 (.683) | | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||
* 20 wins and 5 losses were vacated from the 2003–04 season and for the 2002–03 season; the school had to vacate the NCAA Division II runner-up and conference regular season championship.