Northeastern State University Athletics

Downey joins NSU Athletics as its tenth men's basketball coach in its history and carries a 226-138 overall head coaching record, with four NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances, and has been named Coach of the Year six times.

Downey has a long history of success and coached 37 All-Conference Players, seven Conference Players of the Year, five All-Americans, four Conference Tournament MVPs, four Freshman of the Year, and over 45 former players playing professionally.

In the postseason, Downey is 19-8 in the conference tournaments, and he holds a 17-8 record in overtime games, with two wins against the top-ranked team in the nation.

The RiverHawks saw a six in improvement in Downey's second season at the helm and guided NSU to the MIAA Tournament with a 14-15 record. In January, NSU was one of the hottest teams in the nation with a six-game winning streak and Downey was named National Coach of the Week by HoopDirt.com during that span.

Downey comes to NSU after two seasons at Fort Wayne (NCAA DI) as the program's top assistant on the bench and has helped the Mastodons to appearances in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) and the NIT while going 44-23. Before Fort Wayne, Downey spent the 2014-15 season at Bowling Green where they went 20-12, and he helped direct them into the second round of the CIT. While with the Falcons, he helped coach Richaun Holmes, the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and a second-round NBA draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Downey will be returning to NCAA Division II Basketball where he directed three different programs into the NCAA Tournament. 

At West Alabama during the 2012-13 season, Downey directed a one-year turnaround and qualified UWA for their first NCAA Tournament Appearance since 1982. Downey won 14 Gulf South Conference (GSC) contests which were the most in the program's history and beat two NCAA Division I opponents: Abilene Christian, and The Citadel.

Downey spent three seasons at the University of Charleston as its head coach, returning to the program he played for as a team captain for two years (1993-95).  In 2012, Downey finished the season ranked #17 in the nation, and with 26 wins which were fifth-most in 140 years of basketball at UC. Additionally, in 2012, he qualified UC for the first NCAA Tournament Appearance in 11 years. One year later, Downey beat the top-ranked team in the nation, West Liberty, giving them their only loss of the season (30-1).

Downey kick-started the Arkansas Tech men's basketball program during his four seasons as head coach (2006-10) and making a 24-win improvement during that period. For eight weeks during the 2009-10 season, he had the Wonder Boys ranked #1 in the country while winning 30 games, and starting the year on a 25 game winning streak. Downey led ATU to their first GSC West Division title and won the GSC Postseason Tournament. The Wonder Boys reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament and Downey was picked to coach the 2010  NABC/NCAA Division II East All-Star Team. Downey was also voted as the 2010 NABC South Region Coach of the Year for going 30-2 during his 2009-10 campaign. 

One-year prior, Downey led ATU to their first NCAA Tournament appearance and their first GSC Tournament Championship. 

Before arriving at Arkansas Tech, Downey served as an assistant on University of New Orleans coaching staff for five seasons (2001-06). Downey had three straight winning seasons, and his 2001 recruiting class was voted top-20 in the country. In 2014, New Orleans reached the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship before Hurricane Katrina uprooted the program to Tyler, Texas for much of his final season there.

Downey's first head coaching experience came at the age of 26 at Independence Community College (1999-01) where he won the 2000 NJCAA Region VI Championship in his first season. Downey went 50-20 in two seasons while being named as Region VI's Coach of the Year. During the 1998-99 season, he was Independence CC's assistant coach, and they finished runner-up in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division with a 22-10 record.

Downey also had two years (1996-98) at Marshall where they won the Southern Conference North Division. In 1997 and 1998, his recruiting classes was voted best in the league by ESPN.

After playing collegiately for the University of Charleston and Wheeling Jesuit, Downey spent the 1995-96 season at Barton College where he recruited a team that went 25-6 the following year and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Downey has also appeared in the 2004 Jerry Bruckheimer film "Glory Road," playing #30 Tommy Kron for the University of Kentucky.

Downey and his wife Ericka are the parents of two sons, Bryce, and Andrew. He earned his degree in Sports Medicine from the University of Charleston in 1995 and a Master's Degree in Athletic Administration from Marshall University in 1998.