Fisher fills out Temple bench with former Big Ten assistant
Temple coach Adam Fisher has filled out his staff with the addition of former Big Ten assistant Courtney Eldridge, OwlScoop.com has learned through multiple sources.
The 45-year-old Eldridge will fill the seat of the late Bill Courtney, who passed away unexpectedly in January. In Eldridge, Temple has added an experienced assistant with a reputation as a solid recruiter, particularly in New England.
A product of Thayer Academy in Massachusetts, Eldridge was a standout player at UNC Greensboro from 1998 through 2002. As a Spartan, Eldridge was a two-time First Team Southern Conference selection and finished his career with 1,329 points and 584 assists, the most in program history. As a junior, Eldridge averaged 14.6 points and 5.8 assists per game and led UNCG to a SoCon title and NCAA Tournament berth. Following his collegiate career, Eldridge played 12 years overseas with stops in places like Poland, Turkey and Belarus.
When that international career finally came to an end, Eldridge spent a year as the head coach of Saint Joseph Prep in Brighton, Massachusetts before reuniting with his former college coach, Fran McCaffery, at Iowa. With the Hawkeyes, Eldridge spent three seasons as the video coordinator before being promoted to Director of Player Development in 2019. After three years in that position, Eldridge slid onto the bench as an assistant coach for Eldridge’s final three seasons in Iowa City. Eldridge spent last season at Elon, where he coached under former Iowa assistant Billy Taylor.
During his time in Iowa, Eldridge served as the primary recruiter for players like Dasonte Bowen, who attended Brewster Academy, and Ladji Dembele, a product of Newark’s St. Benedict’s Prep. At Elon, Eldridge was recognized by Silver Waves Media as one of the 100 most impactful Mid Major Assistant coaches.
Eldridge will join a Temple program that went 16-16 last season and needs to replace the majority of its production from last season. In addition to the graduations of Derrian Ford, Jordan Mason and Masiah Gilyard, Temple has also seen early portal departures from Aiden Tobiason (Syracuse), Babatunde Durodola, AJ Smith, Jamai Felt, Ayuba Bryant and Spencer Mahoney.
