Zach Spiker returns to the Big Red for his sixth season as an assistant coach under Steve Donahue. During each of his first five years, Spiker’s enthusiasm and knowledge of the game helped the Big Red to upper division finishes in the Ivy League. He has also been instrumental in helping Cornell’s recruiting efforts the last five years, culminating in the Big Red winning consecutive Ancient Eight titles for the first time in program history.
The 2008-09 team set school records for points (2,281), 3-pointers made (241) and blocked shots (121) while capturing all 13 home games, a school record. Cornell ended the year with a 21-10 mark, the first time in school history the Big Red registered consecutive 20-win seasons. Cornell won the league by three games and had Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale earn first-team All-Ivy honors, while Jeff Foote was named the league's inaugural Defensive Player of the Year and Chris Wroblewski was selected as Rookie of the Year.
With Spiker on the sidelines, Cornell closed its 2007-08 season by setting school records for wins (22) and consecutive wins (16), while also establishing marks for season points and 3-pointers made, as well as free-throw percentage. Cornell became the 13th team in conference history to finish with a perfect league slate (14-0) and was the first non-Penn or Princeton team to accomplish that feat. Dale was named Ivy League Player of the Year, while Wittman was an NABC All-District selection. Both Foote and Adam Gore also were named to the All-Ivy second team.
Spiker was part of a 2006-07 club that won 16 games and finished third in the Ivy League with nine wins, surpassing the previous year’s total. Wittman was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year, while Dale was an All-Ivy selection. He also assisted in the development of All-Ivy selection Andrew Naeve.
In 2005-06, Spiker helped the Big Red to its second-consecutive winning season in Ancient Eight play for the first time in 18 years. Adam Gore was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and joined Lenny Collins on the All-Ivy second team.
The 2004-05 Big Red earned its highest Ivy finish in 17 years and claimed its first winning Ancient Eight campaign (8-6) since the 1992-93 season. The Big Red had two players named All-Ivy (Lenny Collins - first team, Eric Taylor - honorable mention) for the first time since 1997. The team’s 13 wins overall was the most since that same 1996-97 campaign.
Spiker joined the staff in June 2004, returning to Ithaca after spending the previous two seasons at West Virginia, where he served as an administrative assistant under head coach John Beilein, helping the team to a pair of Big East tournament appearances and an invitation to participate in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 2003-04. While in Morgantown, Spiker was responsible for managing on-campus recruiting visits, opponent scouting, postgame film breakdown and overseeing the team’s daily event schedules.
Prior to joining the Mountaineer staff, Spiker served from 2000-02 as a graduate assistant coach at Winthrop University under head coach Gregg Marshall, helping the Eagles advance to a pair of NCAA tournaments after winning the Big South tournament in successive seasons.
While at Winthrop, Spiker was responsible for team travel, film exchange, directing camps, coordinating recruiting mailouts and managing on-campus visits. He created the school’s first coaching clinic and the team camp.
Spiker played two seasons of basketball at Ithaca College before serving as a student assistant coach as a senior, helping lead the Bombers to the 2000 ECAC championship, the first such basketball title in school history.
Spiker graduated from Ithaca College in May 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and earned a master’s degree in sport management from West Virginia in the spring of 2004.
Spiker and his wife, Jennifer, live in Ithaca with their 1-year-old son, Charlie.
*Updated July 1, 2009
