Jacob Kurtz begins his fourth season with the NIU Men’s Basketball program, serving as an Assistant Coach and Director of Basketball Operations. Kurtz came to DeKalb following five years on staff at UMass.
Kurtz was promoted to his current role in the summer of 2025 after previously serving as an Assistant Coach/Director of Basketball Operations.
In 2023-24, Kurtz helped NIU to its best start since 2015-16 as the Huskies opened 5-1 with victories over Sun Belt regular season champion Appalachian State and NIU’s first win over DePaul since 2005. The Huskies recorded the fourth-most three-points field goals in school history (227) while playing the toughest schedule in the Mid-American Conference.
David Coit became just the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points in just two seasons (joining Jim Bradley, Kenny Battle and Xavier Silas) as he was named to the All-MAC Third Team and the NABC All-District Second Team. Will Lovings-Watts was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team while NIU had two Academic All-MAC honorees, Oluwasegun Durosinmi and Harvin Ibarguen, marking the first time the program has had multiple Academic All-MAC recipients since the 1999-2000 season.
In his first season in DeKalb, Kurtz helped the Huskies improve to 13 victories and an appearance in the MAC Tournament. NIU recorded its longest road winning streak since the 2002-03 season and also claimed a victory over MAC champion Kent State, snapping the nation’s third-longest win streak. The Huskies finished league play second in the MAC in field goal percentage, third in three-point percentage, third in field goal defense, third in three-point defense and third in assists.
NIU had a pair of All-MAC honorees for the first time since 2003-04 as David Coit was named to the All-MAC Third Team and Kaleb Thornton claimed All-MAC Honorable Mention recognition. Coit was also named to the NABC All-District Second Team.
Kurtz joined the UMass staff in 2017-18 as Assistant Director of Operations/Assistant to the Head Coach for the Minutemen under head coach Matt McCall. He spent two years in that role before being promoted the Director of Scouting/Video prior to the 2019-20 campaign. Kurtz was elevated to an assistant coaching role at UMass for the 2021-22 season.
Prior to joining the Minutemen, Kurtz spent two seasons on McCall’s staff at Chattanooga. Joining the Mocs in 2015-16 as Video Coordinator, Kurtz helped the program to a school-record 29 victories, winning both the Southern Conference regular season and tournament titles while earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The following season, Kurtz was promoted to Assistant to the Head Coach.
As a player, Kurtz began as a student manager at the University of Florida before earning a spot on the team and becoming the most accomplished walk-on during Billy Donovan’s tenure with the Gators. As a senior in 2014-15, he made seven starts and was named to the SEC Community Service Team.
