Steven Whitley
Assistant Coach
Steven Whitley enters his first season as an assistant coach in 2023-24 for the Norfolk State men's basketball team, after spending the previous two years as director of basketball operations.
Norfolk State notched its second consecutive 20-win season in 2022-23, amassing a 22-11 overall record. Joe Bryant Jr. earned MEAC Player of the Year honors for the second straight campaign, earning First Team All-MEAC honors alongside teammate Kris Bankston. Both players were also selected to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT) after the season’s conclusion.
In his first year of the position, Whitley helped lead the Spartans through a historic season. The team compiled a 24-7 record, the highest win percentage (77.4) in the program’s Division I history, going 12-2 in the MEAC to take the regular season title. The Spartans won the MEAC Tournament Championship for a second consecutive year, earning another berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Led by MEAC Player of the Year Bryant and a total of three All-MEAC selections (first-teamer Bryant, second-teamer Bankston and third-teamer Jalen Hawkins), NSU posted the best-ever start to a season for a MEAC team in the league’s Division I era, at 9-1.
Prior to joining the Norfolk State coaching staff, Whitley enjoyed a distinguished playing career at NSU. He joined the 1,000-point club despite playing just three seasons with the program, after starting his career at Robert Morris.
Whitley earned third-team All-MEAC honors in both his redshirt junior and redshirt senior seasons, leading the Spartans to a 14-2 conference record in the former. He averaged 10.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, a team-best 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game in his final year and helped lead the Spartans to an 80-79 overtime upset over Alabama in the NIT First Round as a redshirt junior.
In his first season at NSU, Whitley was named Team MVP after averaging a team-best 12.2 points, 4.7 assists and 1.6 steals per contest. He recorded a career-high 27 points against Hampton, shooting 12-of-16 (75 percent) from the field and dishing four assists.
Whitley graduated from Norfolk State in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in business management