Head Coach Jason Curbison (9th season)
High School: Phil-Mont Christian Academy (PA)
College: Millersville University (2000)
Major: Psychology
Minor: Athletic Coaching
Jason Curbison returns for his ninth season as the Rutgers-Camden men’s basketball coach, where he returns five young lettermen on a 12-man roster.
Curbison’s 2017-18 team posted a 3-21 record overall and finished l-17 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Senior guard Vincent Anfield Jr. captured All-NJAC Honorable Mention and junior forward Isaac Destin was named to the All-Scotty Wood Tournament Team early in the season at Muhlenberg College. Academically, four Scarlet Raptors earned honors from either the NJAC or the ECAC, including senior guard Charlie Riccardi, who captured recognition from both conferences by earning NJAC Academic Honorable Mention and a berth on the Spring 2018 ECAC President’s Honor Roll.
Curbison’s 2016-17 team posted a 6-19 record overall and a 3-15 mark in the NJAC, but the season was highlighted by a victory over No. 17-ranked and previously-undefeated Neumann University, 68-67, in Camden on Jan. 9. With Destin, an All-NJAC Honorable Mention player, leading the way with 19 points and seven rebounds, it was the Raptors’ first win over a nationally-ranked team since a 66-65 home win against #23 Kean University on Jan. 24, 2004.
In addition to Destin earning all-NJAC honors on the court, Riccardi was named to the NJAC Academic First Team.
Following a banner 2014-15 season which saw the Scarlet Raptors post their best records in years (14-12 overall and 8-10 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference), Rutgers-Camden’s roster was hit hard by graduation. In the rebuilding phase that followed during the 2015-16 campaign, the Scarlet Raptors posted a 3-22 mark overall and a 1-17 NJAC record, but their young roster was filled with plenty of potential. A pair of freshmen, Elijah Robles and Destin, each earned two honors during the season as the NJAC Rookie of the Week. Sophomore Abby Bah, meanwhile, continued his development and finished as the second-best rebounder in the conference, while shooting .569 from the floor. He was named the team’s Most Valuable Player.
Jason Curbison’s Rutgers-Camden coaching record
During Curbison’s fifth year at the helm in 2014-15, the Raptors posted their best marks since they were 14-11 overall and 8-10 in the NJAC in 2001-02. The banner year marked only the second winning season since 1984-85 for Rutgers-Camden men’s basketball, and the team finished seventh in the NJAC, barely missing its first appearance ever in the conference tournament.
Capping its 2014-15 campaign, Rutgers-Camden played in its first-ever NCAA post-season game, losing a 68-65 nail-biter at New York University in the ECAC quarterfinals on March 18. It was the program’s first post-season game overall since losing in the NAIA District 31 final at Dowling College on March 2, 1976.
Curbison’s 2014-15 team was led by senior transfer Wyatt Polk, who captured NJAC First Team recognition and a pair of all-regional Second Team honors. He also captured a pair of NJAC Player of the Week honors, in addition to earning a berth on the Louis Fleming Basinger All-Tournament Team.
The 2014-15 season marked a major improvement over the previous team, which posted a 4-21 mark with a young squad that featured five first-year Scarlet Raptors. One of them, the team’s tallest post player in 6-foot-5 Matt O’Keefe, played only seven games before being lost for the season with an injury.
During Curbison’s third season at the helm of the Scarlet Raptors in 2012-13, Rutgers-Camden posted a 9-16 overall record and a 6-12 mark in the NJAC. At the time, both marks were the best records since the 2001-02 season.
Curbison’s 2012-13 team also finished seventh in the conference – barely missing a conference tournament berth – and featured Teon Russell, who became only the second NCAA All-American in program history. Russell, who was named to the
DIII News All-America Third Team after earning NJAC Player of the Year honors, joined Brian Turner from the 2001-02 team as the only men’s basketball All-American and NJAC Player of the Year honorees at Rutgers-Camden.
Curbison’s program also accomplished several other milestones in his third season. It won its NJAC opener for only the second time ever, becoming the first team since the 1986-87 squad to sport a 1-0 record in NJAC play. It hosted its own Battle by the Bridge Tournament in November, bringing another first to the campus. Later in the season, it ended long conference losing streaks against both Montclair State and Kean University, beating those teams for the first time since Jan. 28, 2004 and Feb. 17, 2007, respectively.
The Scarlet Raptors’ improving fortunes are the result of Curbison’s hard work and dedication while laying the foundation for a basketball revival by teaching, recruiting and changing the culture of the program.
In his first season as the Scarlet Raptors’ head coach (2010-11), Curbison accomplished things that hadn’t been seen on campus in years. The Raptors’ 6-17 overall record was their best mark since an 8-17 campaign during the 2002-03 season, and could easily have included three more victories: Rutgers-Camden lost two games in overtime and another contest by one point.
The Raptors’ six wins featured four victories in NJAC play, the best NJAC mark since the team went 8-10 in 2001-02. The 4-9 NJAC mark doubled the Raptors’ conference victory output from the previous two seasons combined. The 2010-11 season also marked the first time the Scarlet Raptors escaped the NJAC South Division cellar since 2007-08.
With a young nucleus, Rutgers-Camden added more accomplishments to its growing program in 2011-12. Although the overall record slipped to 4-21, three of those losses came by four points or less, including a pair of two-point defeats. The Raptors also upgraded their non-conference schedule and opened the season at Elon University, marking Rutgers-Camden’s first Division I opponent since the 1983-84 campaign.
Along the way, sophomore point guard Woody Redding blossomed into an all-conference player, while setting a single-season program record with 156 assists. He also ranked eighth nationally among all Division III players in assists per game (6.2).
Curbison came to Rutgers-Camden after a two-year stint at Penn State-Abington, where the Nittany Lions were in the middle of the transition to NCAA Division III status. In his first year, they were a member of the Penn State University Athletics Conference (PSUAC) and in the midst of the exploratory phase of moving to Division III. The team posted a 6-19 record overall and a 6-11 conference mark, including an Elite Eight appearance in the PSUAC playoffs.
Curbison led the Nittany Lions to a 6-20 mark during their provisional year in 2009-10, including a quarterfinal berth in the North Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.
A graduate of Pennsylvania’s Phil-Mont Christian Academy, Curbison played two years of basketball at Manor Junior College. He finished his collegiate career at Millersville University, graduating in 2000 with a BA in Psychology. He minored in Athletic Coaching.
Curbison started his coaching career as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Goldey-Beacom College during the 2002-03 season. He spent the next five seasons (2003-08) as an assistant coach at Rowan University, where he gained vast knowledge in the workings of the NJAC while helping the Profs qualify for post-season play in four times in five years. His numerous responsibilities included being responsible for in-game defensive plays and he helped Rowan rank among the top 25 nationally in field goal percentage defense for three of those five seasons.
A full-time member of the Rutgers-Camden athletic staff, Curbison serves as the school’s recruiting coordinator in addition to his basketball coaching duties.
