Twitter: @Coach Waterman
Scott Waterman began in his role as Academy of Art men's basketball head coach in May 2019.
With the 2023-24 season closed out after earning a Pacific West Conference Regular Season Championship title for the first time in school history as they tied the most wins the squad has recorded in the regular season (20), Waterman, the 2023-24 PacWest Coach of the Year, once again saw his team set numerous new program records as the team delivered the highest scoring average in the program's history with 80.4 points per contest. On the defensive end, the squad also broke the all-time record in steals average for the program as well, collecting 10.7 steals per game, while also blocking the second-most total shots (3.3). Over the course of the season, four ART U players put together a total of seven PacWest weekly awards, while three members would go on to earn
All-PacWest team selections, two of which being First Team. In addition, Waterman coached Latrell Williams in a career-season, as he was the first PacWest player to earn both
Player of the Year and Defender of the Year in the same season, all while Jamal Fuller earned an additional second team selection to both the
NABC All-West Region and D2CCA All-West Region teams after leading the conference in points per game.
In a strong encore to ART U's historic 2021-22 season, Waterman guided the Urban Knights to another in 2022-23 as Academy of Art went 22-10 overall and 14-6 in Pacific West Conference play for two new program record win totals. ART U won its first four games of the year and later closed the regular season with a six-game win streak before making it seven straight with an
opening-round victory over Pacific West Conference Tournament host Chaminade. ART U then collected its first ever at-large bid to make its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II West Regional, where the Knights earned an
overtime triumph in the opening round over Saint Martin's. Along the way, Academy of Art earned six PacWest weekly selections (three Knights accounting for five Defender of the Week honors) as well as three All-PacWest Team awards including Klay Brown and Mike Asante on the
All-PacWest Second Team and Will Balata on the Third Team. Program records for the Urban Knights in 2022-23 included: being ranked in the NCAA West Region every week of the season while also being nationally ranked once in the D2SIDA poll and receiving votes in the NABC poll on Dec. 1; total wins (22); regular season wins (20); seven-game winning streak; wins by double digits (14); 30-point victories (four); 90-point games (10); rebounds (1,265); scoring margin (+8.2); scoring average (79.7 ppg). Additionally, ART U was still in the top-10 of multiple statistical categories including steals (327, second; first: 2021-22, 331) and scoring defense (71.5, third).
A breakout third season for Waterman at the helm saw quite a bit of history made as the program achieved a new record 20 victories, its first ever PacWest Conference Tournament Championship, and the Urban Knights' first berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament. A six-game win streak began in late November and was highlighted by ART U's first regular season win over a NCAA DI opponent with a
79-60 victory at UC Davis on Nov. 28. Prior to rattling off five straight wins in early February, the team had its fifth Urban Knight be named PacWest Defender of the Week, giving the squad seven on the season (both of which are PacWest and ART U records). Waterman was named
PacWest Coach of the Year while Klay Brown earned
PacWest Defender of the Year and Latrell Williams made the
All-PacWest Second Team. Playing three games in four days as the #4 seed in the PacWest Tournament, Academy of Art
won a best-of-three season meetings with tourney host Fresno Pacific,
topped #1 seed Point Loma on a clutch overtime 3-pointer by Brown, then
bested #2 seed Azusa Pacific in the championship game with Mike Asante being named tournament MVP alongside PacWest All-Tournament Team selections Brown and Williams. The Knights would make their
NCAA Tournament debut against No. 15 Chico State. By year's end, ART U had set numerous program records, including: overall wins (20), points scored (2,449), rebounds (1,203), scoring margin (+2.7; only positive scoring margin in program history), and field goal percentage defense (42.2 percent). Additionally, the Knights set a new program best in steals with 331 (fourth in NCAA DII) and steals per game at 10.3 (fourth in NCAA DII). The 331 steals are also a new PacWest record, topping the
previous record of 328 set by Concordia during the 2018-19 season. Meanwhile, the Knights also set their second-best program marks in scoring average (77.6 ppg) and assists (423).
During his second season leading the Urban Knights, Waterman helped ART U through the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season, collecting a total of three wins along the way. The first win of the season came in the second game on Jan. 23, as the Knights pulled off
a 26-point comeback to defeat Dominican on their own home court by a final of 72-67. Twice during the year would an Urban Knight be named the PacWest NorCal Player of the Week (Jalen Lovett–
Jan. 25; Josh Hill–
Feb. 15), and by the campaign's end, both Hill and Stefan Milivojevic would be selected to the
2020-21 All-PacWest Northern California Team. Milivojevic averaged a team-high 16.4 points per game,
seventh most in the PacWest, and made at least one 3-pointer in every game this season. A dominating force in the paint, Hill
averaged a double-double this season with 14.6 points and 12.6 rebounds per game over ART U's 13 contests, ending the year with nine double-doubles to
tie for seventh in the nation in that category. Additionally, men's basketball would have four
2020-21 Academic All-PacWest selections.
In his first year with ART U, Waterman guided the Urban Knights to the program's second consecutive PacWest Tournament appearance, tied the program's record for wins in a single season (12), and set numerous team and individual records along the way. New program marks were set in multiple categories as a team, including single-season points (2105), rebounds (1115), field goals made (781), 3-point field goals (210), and assists (434) while Stefan Milivojevic was named
All-PacWest First Team upon setting the five ART U records (most notably career points scored at 890) and Josh Hill garnered
All-PacWest Third Team honors. The postseason also brought five
Academic All-PacWest recipients as well as three
NABC Honors Court selections.
With Dominican from 2017-19, Waterman helped the program receive the National Association of Basketball Coaches Team Academic Excellence Award with three players on the NABC Honors Court Team in addition to two consecutive All-PacWest Team honorees.
As director of basketball operations at Dartmouth College for the 2016-17 season, Waterman was a contributing member to the Big Green’s staff which oversaw then-sophomore standout Evan Boudreaux who earned USBWA All-District I Team and the NABC All-District 13 Second Team.
Prior to Dartmouth, Waterman spent three seasons as the associate head coach position at Division III Pomona-Pitzer College where the Sagehens reached a No. 5 Division III West regional ranking in 2014, he recruited the eventual 2016 SCIAC Newcomer of the Year, and coached five SCIAC All-League members.
Waterman came onto Cal State Fullerton’s staff in 2007, serving as director of basketball operations for one season then assistant coach for Big West Coach of the Year Bob Burton five seasons thereafter. In the 2007-2008 campaign, the Titans reached the NCAA tournament and earned a bid in the CIT tournament in 2012 after finishing with a 21-10 record. Additionally, the team succeeded academically, boasting a grade point average over 3.0 for three semesters and graduating more than 20 team members.
Waterman started his career at Long Beach State as an assistant coach in 2006-2007, helping lead the 49ers to an NCAA tournament after they won the Big West Conference tournament under Big West Coach of the Year Larry Reynolds. He was responsible for the recruitment of a total of 13 All-Big West Team selections across both Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton.
Waterman earned his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Occidental College in 2002 after captaining the men’s basketball team for two of his three years on the Tigers’ squad. He later earned a master’s degree in Kinesiology from Long Beach State in 2004.
Head Coach, ART U
2019 - present
| Year |
Overall (Pct.) |
PacWest (Place) |
| 2023-24 |
20-9 (.690) |
15-5 (T-1st) |
| 2022-23 |
22-10 (.688) |
14-6 (3rd) |
| 2021-22 |
20-12 (.625) |
13-7 (4th) |
| 2020-21* |
3-10 (.230) |
2-9 (3rd NorCal) |
| 2019-20 |
12-18 (.400) |
10-12 (6th) |
| Totals |
77-59 (.566) |
54-39 (.581) |
*Year shortened due to COVID-19
