Northern Kentucky University Athletics

John McCray joined Northern Kentucky Women's Basketball in May of 2023 as an assistant coach to accompany to head coach Camryn Whitaker's staff for the upcoming 2023-24 season. 

McCray comes to Highland Heights after spending the past three seasons with the Holy Cross women’s basketball team as an assistant coach and was a key part in the Crusaders capturing the 2022-23 Patriot League Tournament championship. Along with bringing depths of experience and knowledge from the recruiting aspect in college basketball, McCray’s student-athletes flourish under his guidance at Holy Cross. From developing players in Patriot League Championship MVP’s to multiple Crusaders earning All-League, All-Defensive and All-Rookie honors throughout his four years in Worcester.
 
Prior to Holy Cross, McCray spent time with the University of Florida, where he served as an assistant coach from 2017-20. While at Florida, McCray primarily worked with the player development of guards, scouting assignments and recruiting strategy. He helped spark a seven-win turnaround for Florida in 2019-20 as the Gators finished .500 (15-15) for the first time in four years, and helped Florida, one of the league's least-experienced rosters, double their SEC win total. McCray and Florida earned a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament for the first time in four years while collecting two AP Top 25 wins. He played a key role in Florida's 2019 recruiting class, which was ranked No. 26 overall by ProspectsNation.

Before he became a Gator, McCray spent four seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he was responsible for the development of post players and served as the team’s recruiting coordinator. During his tenure, the Mocs made four NCAA tournament appearances, winning Southern Conference titles in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

He was a graduate assistant at St. Joseph’s University before that, assisting with scouting, film exchange and recruiting. He spent one season as a video assistant at The Ohio State University. McCray also worked at Veritas Academy in Columbus, Ohio, serving as the athletics director, varsity girls basketball head coach and varsity boys basketball associate head coach.

McCray graduated from Ohio State in 2011 with a Bachelor’s degree in sport and leisure studies. He later earned his Master’s degree in organization, development and leadership from St. Joseph’s in 2016.