NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jon Cremins and Tom Ostrom have joined the Vanderbilt men’s basketball staff as assistant coaches, head coach Mark Byington announced Friday.
Cremins heads to Nashville after serving on Byington’s JMU staff for each of the previous four seasons while Ostrom joins following a stellar stint with Drake.
JON CREMINS
Cremins has worked with Byington at three previous stops, including JMU, Georgia Southern and Charleston. He has spent each of the past six seasons as an assistant coach under Byington.
“Jon has been with me many years and he knows what I want in a program as well as anyone,” Byington said. “He is tremendous with relationships and player connections. He also has a great mindset for coaching and is a high-level recruiter.”
While at JMU, Cremins helped lead the Dukes to their record-setting 32-4 mark this season, a Sun Belt Conference championship and NCAA Tournament win. JMU posted an 82-36 record during the four-year tenure.
During Cremins’ two seasons as an assistant at Georgia Southern, he helped guide the Eagles to 20-or-more wins in both campaigns. With Cremins in Statesboro, Georgia Southern ranked fourth in the nation in field goal percentage and 15th in scoring during the 2018-19 season.
Cremins spent the 2017-18 season as an assistant at USC Upstate and prior to that stop served as the head coach for two seasons at Spartanburg Methodist. In his two seasons with the Pioneers, Cremins led the squad to a 55-11 record and back-to-back appearances in the NJCAA Division I Championship. He was named the Region X Coach of the Year in both of his seasons with Spartanburg Methodist and guided the Pioneers to nation-leading marks in field goal percentage, three-point percentage and three-pointers made.
He also spent time at Kennesaw State, Southeast Missouri and two seasons under his uncle, legendary coach Bobby Cremins, at Charleston. Cremins began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Valdosta State.
Cremins earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Valdosta State in 2007 and a master’s in public administration in 2009.
TOM OSTROM
Ostrom brings over 25 years of collegiate coaching experience, including two stops in the SEC, to Vanderbilt. Ostrom most recently served as an assistant coach at Drake for the past two seasons.
“Tom has been successful at many different schools and leagues across the country,” said Byington. “His team at Drake had a great year, and he has recruited and coached some of the best players in the nation at Indiana, Dayton and Florida.”
During his two years at Drake, Ostrom helped the Bulldogs to 55 victories, two Missouri Valley championships and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.
Prior to Drake, Ostrom spent four years as the associate head coach at Indiana (2017-21) where he helped the Hoosiers pull in the No. 7 recruiting class nationally in 2018 and the No. 13 class in 2020. Before joining Indiana, he served as an assistant at Dayton for six seasons (2011-17). With Ostrom on staff, the Flyers made four NCAA Tournament appearances highlighted by a run to the 2014 Elite Eight.
A veteran of the SEC, Ostrom has spent over a decade in the league between stops at Florida and Arkansas. He spent four seasons at Arkansas under John Pelphrey, helping the Razorbacks to the 2008 NCAA Tournament, after starting his coaching career with seven years under Billy Donovan. With the Gators, he served in an administrative and video coordinator role from 1998-2002 before being promoted to assistant coach in 2003. He was part of six NCAA Tournament appearances, two Sweet 16 berths and the 2000 Florida team which made the national championship game.
Between his time at Florida and Arkansas, Ostrom helped guide South Alabama to 24 wins and the Sun Belt title in 2005-06.
He earned a degree in sports management and human development from Minnesota in 1997. During his time in Minneapolis, he served as a student assistant for the men’s basketball program under Clem Haskins.
