Baden Pronounce

Four years into Ernie Zeigler's tenure, he has the Central Michigan men's basketball program back among the Mid-American Conference's elite, having won back-to-back West Division titles for the first time in the program's history.

The Chippewas' second consecutive West Division title (2009-10) was their fourth since 1998, this time coming after posting a winning MAC record for the first time since 2002-03.

Robbie Harman led the nation in three-pointers made per contest, ranked seventh in three-point percentage and set the program's single season and career three-point records under Zeigler's watch in 2009-10. In addition, both Harman and Jordan Bitzer became members of CMU's 1,000-point club during the season.

The Chippewas' future under Zeigler continues to shine brightly as they will again welcome the top recruiting class in the MAC, according to ESPN, Scouts, Inc. and HoopScoopOnline.com. And Zeigler has ensured he will remain a part of that future, signing a four-year contract extension following the 2009-10 season that will keep him in Mount Pleasant until 2013-14.

Zeigler’s 54 wins in his first four seasons are the third-most of any coach since CMU joined the Division I ranks and his 34 MAC wins also rank second-most over that same stretch. The Chippewas have reached the MAC Tournament quarterfinals in each of his four seasons.

During his tenure at CMU, Zeigler (54-69) has mentored four All-MAC players in Giordan Watson (2007 first-team and 2008 second-team), Marcus Van (2009 honorable mention), Jordan Bitzer (2010 second-team) and Robbie Harman (2010 second-team) as well as a pair of MAC All-Freshman Team selections in Marko Spica (2007) and Jeremy Allen (2008).

The 2007-08 season featured a four-game winning streak, capped with a 78-67 victory at Big Ten foe Michigan. Central finished the year at 14-17 overall and 8-8 in the league.  The .500 MAC record marked just the third time in the previous 17 seasons that CMU won at least half of its league games. A win over Northern Illinois in the first round of the MAC Tournament also highlighted the campaign.

The Chippewas went 13-18 overall and 7-9 in the MAC duing Zeigler’s first season as a head coach, as he led the Chippewas to a seven-and-a-half game improvement that was the 17th-best turnaround in the nation that year. The 13 wins more than tripled the previous year’s total.

CMU won its first-round 2007 MAC Tournament game against Buffalo before falling to eventual runner-up Akron. Zeigler’s squad produced five road wins, which were more than the previous three years combined, and Central won its first two MAC road games of the year for just the second time in school history. CMU led the MAC in free throw percentage (.725) and Giordan Watson was named first-team All-MAC while Marko Spica was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team.

Athletics Director Dave Heeke introduced Zeigler as the Chippewas’ 19th men’s basketball coach at a press conference in the Indoor Athletic Complex on June 29, 2006.

“Ernie brings a wealth of experience to our program and the championship culture we are building at CMU,” Heeke said at the press conference. “His roots are in Detroit, and he has strong ties to the Midwest and the state of Michigan. Ernie is well known as one of the best recruiters in the country. His vision for our program focuses on the student-athlete and will provide an environment for our players to be successful both athletically and academically.”

Seven Seasons of Division I Experience Prior to Central Michigan
Zeigler began his tenure with the Chippewas three months after helping lead UCLA to the 2006 NCAA title game.

He spent five seasons as an assistant under Ben Howland at both Pittsburgh (2002-03) and UCLA (2004-06). The programs achieved great success with Zeigler on staff as Pitt reached the NCAA Sweet 16 both years and finished 2003 with a final Associated Press ranking of No. 4. The 2002 squad won a school-record 29 games while the 2003 team captured the Big East Tournament championship. Both years the Panthers won the Big East West Division championship.

When Howland took the UCLA job, Zeigler joined the Bruins’ staff and helped the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. The No. 2-seeded Bruins advanced to the 2006 NCAA championship game but fell to Florida, 73-57. UCLA won the 2006 Pac-10 regular season and tournament championships.

Each season UCLA had a top 15-ranked recruiting class – fourth by rivals.com in 2004, 13th by scout.com in 2005 and sixth by foxsports.com in 2006. The Bruins’ staff recruited three McDonald’s All-Americans in the three years Zeigler was on staff – Arron Afflalo, Jordan Farmar and James Keefe.

Prior to joining Howland’s staff, Zeigler had one-year stints at Kansas State (2000) and Bowling Green (2001).

Success at Every Stop, from Michigan to China
Zeigler has three seasons of head coaching experience overseas. He was named the Chinese Basketball Alliance Coach of the Year in 1997 after leading the Henan Wildcats to their first winning season and a playoff berth. Zeigler then coached the Al-Halil Club of the Saudi Arabian Basketball Federation to back-to-back Final Four appearances and the 1999 SABF championship. There he compiled a 41-13 record.

Zeigler began his coaching career under his former prep coach, Robert Menefee, at his alma mater, Detroit Cody High School. Zeigler was an assistant at Cody from 1990-96; in four of those six seasons, Cody was ranked among the top 10 Class A teams in the state of Michigan. Detroit Cody reached the state quarterfinals in 1992 and won the Detroit Public School League West Division championship in 1993.

From 1992 to 1997, Zeigler was the head AAU coach for Team Detroit. He guided all six squads to the state AAU Final Four and the 1994 squad reached the national AAU quarterfinals. In 1995 and 1997, Team Detroit advanced to the adidas Big Time Tournament quarterfinals.

Zeigler received a bachelor’s degree in business management from Cleary College (Ypsilanti, Mich.) in 1994. He played collegiately at Schoolcraft College (Livonia, Mich.) from 1984-86, Armstrong Atlantic State University (Savannah, Ga.) from 1986-87 and Northwood University (Midland, Mich.) from 1987-88.

Ernie and his wife, Seantelle, have two children, Trey and Skylar.