Indiana State assistant men’s basketball coach Justin Furr is the new head coach at Barry University, an NCAA Division II program in Miami Shores, Fla.
Furr previously served five seasons as an assistant coach at Barry, before joining the staff for four seasons at Florida Gulf Coast, followed by three seasons at Indiana State under head coaches Josh Schertz and his successor Matthew Graves. Barry announced the move Thursday night.
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Justin Furr
Justin Furr, shown here while he was an assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast, then spent three seasons on Indiana State’s coaching staff, and will now become head coach at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla.
“I am extremely excited for Justin to get an opportunity to be a head coach,” Graves said told the Tribune-Star.
Barry finished last season with records of 12-17 overall and 8-12 in the Sunshine State Conference. Buccaneers coach Butch Estes stepped down after 12 seasons on April 1, with an overall record of 215-118 at the school. Now Furr takes over in his first head coaching role.
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“My five years at Barry with Coach Estes were some of the most memorable of my career,” Furr said in a Barry news release. “The academic and athletic excellence at Barry is second to none. Dr. [Scott] Smith [the university’s athletic director] and I have an aligned vision for the future of Barry U. Basketball. We look forward to building a program that players will want to be a part of and playing a style of basketball that will make the the university, Miami Shores, and South Florida community proud.”
Smith is enthused to have Furr back.
“This is an exciting day for the Barry U. men’s basketball program,” Smith said in the university statement. “Justin was a huge part of our earlier success and has gained an unbelievable amount of experience at the D1 level these past seven years. That experience, combined with his love for Barry University, makes him an excellent choice for our program. He fully understands what Barry University is about and what it takes to win in the SSC [Sunshine State Conference]. I look forward to helping him reconnect with our alumni, the local community, and our fans.”
Furr’s three seasons at ISU were among the program’s best ever, as the Sycamores rolled up a cumulative mark of 69-38 through that stretch. It included, of course, the 32-7 2023-24 season in which ISU won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title and reached the National Invitation Tournament final, narrowly losing to Seton Hall in Hinkle Fieldhouse.
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Schertz coached the ‘23-24 team then left for Saint Louis, and his top assistant, Graves, became head coach. On Monday, Graves praised Furr’s talents and expressed confidence in his new role.
“Coach Furr has done a tremendous job the past three years at Indiana State in many different facets of the program,” Graves said. “We all wish him nothing but the best and will be cheering for him from Terre Haute.”
In a long career as an assistant, Furr also served on staffs at Lynn, Newberry, UNC-Wilmington, High Point, St. Andrews Presbyterian, Wingate and Pfeiffer. In his five seasons at Barry, the Buccaneers made the NCAA Division II Tournament in each season. In four of those postseason berths, Barry won at least one NCAA game four times and advancing to the Elite Eight twice. The Buccaneers’ cumulative record in that stretch was 116-38 record, a .753 winning percentage), and the team won three consecutive Sunshine State Conference titles. In his final season as a Barry assistant, the Buccaneers finished 23-9, beat D1 Auburn in an exhibition game and reached the Elite Eight.
Furr is a native of Stanfield, N.C., and played college basketball at Wingate, graduating in 1999. Furr and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons, Ezra and Caden.
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Furr joined Schertz’s Indiana State staff, which included Graves, in 2022. Like Graves, Schertz sees big potential for Furr as Barry’s head coach.
“I am incredibly happy for Justin and his entire family,” Schertz — now head coach at Saint Louis University — told the Tribune-Star on Friday morning. “We have been close friends for a long time, so to see him get this very well deserved opportunity to run his own program is exciting.
“He has all of the qualities needed to be a terrific head coach from recruiting, ability to build relationships and basketball acumen,” Schertz added of Furr. “He will do a great job leading Barry University basketball.”
