Billy Mims is entering his 20th year at the helm of the Florida Tech men’s basketball team in 2024-25. This season will be his 39th as a head coach and 44th year of coaching overall.
Mims is the all-time winningest coach in Florida Tech men's basketball history with 247 victories as the Panthers' head coach. He has 335 wins as an NCAA head coach and more than 600 wins in his entire head coaching career in the USA and Europe. Since he took over the Florida Tech program, Mims has coached 33 All-SSC players, three SSC Defensive Players of the Year, two SSC Freshmen of the Year, 44 SSC Players of the Week, two All-SSC Tournament players, seven All-South Region players, two all-district players, one Division II Bulletin National Player of the Month, one Daktronics All-South Region Player of the Year and four All-Americans.
In the 2023-24 season, Mims led Tech to a 16-12 overall record, including a 9-11 SSC record. The Panthers made the SSC Tournament but fell to Embry-Riddle in the quarterfinal round. During the season, Tech defeated third-ranked and defending national champions, Nova Southeastern on January 13, 90-80, at the Clemente Center, handing the Sharks just one of three losses on the season.
In 2022-23, Mims led the Panthers to a 19-11 overall record and finished fourth in the SSC with an 11-9 record. Tech made the SSC semifinals after defeating PBA at the Clemente Center. In the Semifinals, the Panthers forced No.1 Nova Southeastern to overtime but ultimately fell in overtime.
Florida Tech finished with a 4-4 record during the shortened 2020-21 season due to COVID-19. After losing the first three games of the season, the Panthers won four straight including victories over Palm Beach Atlantic (73-60), Florida Southern (79-75), and Tampa (86-77). Tech made the SSC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2012 after defeating Tampa (90-84) in double-overtime in the SSC quarterfinals at the Clemente Center. Junior guard Sesan Russell ranked second in the SSC in scoring (22.5 ppg) and first in assists (6.1). Russell was tabbed to the All-SSC First Team and All-Tournament team while sophomore guard Sean Houpt was selected to the Newcomer Team.
In the summer of 2015, Mims took the Panthers on their first-ever trip to London, a 10-day journey in which they toured several attractions and mounted a 4-2 record against professional teams from England.
The 2014-15 season was one of many firsts, as Chris Carter and Jermaine Jackson were named Sporting News Preseason All-Americans, the first time in school history that two student-athletes had received such honors in the same year. Florida Tech also made its debut on ESPN3 in a pair of road games at NCAA Division I Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson.
Despite returning just one starter of the 2011-12 squad that finished 23-7, 12-4 SSC and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Mims guided a young Panther club to a perfect 9-0 mark in February 2013 to end the regular season. The team finished the season 16-11 with two victories over Sunshine State Conference foes and top-25 ranked Florida Southern (No. 6) and Saint Leo (No. 16).
Mims was the architect of possibly the greatest season in the program’s history in 2011-12, leading the Crimson and Gray to its first outright Sunshine State Conference Championship and the second round of the NCAA Division II Championship. The Panthers finished at 23-7 overall and 12-4 in the SSC. Their 23 wins on the season were the second-most in program history.
Florida Tech’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament was its third in its 45-plus year history and first since the 1989-90 season. The Panthers defeated Saint Leo in the first round and advanced to the second round for the second time ever where they played then No. 2 Alabama-Huntsville. At home, the Panthers mounted a 17-1 record inside the Clemente Center. In SSC play, they posted a perfect 8-0 record in their gym for the first time ever. They entered the 2012-13 season having won 13 consecutive games on their home floor. While working towards what would be a memorable season, Mims earned his 500th victory as a head coach and his 100th win as the Panthers’ men’s basketball coach.
During the 2007-08 season, Mims was named the Division II Bulletin Coach of the Month for December by Small College Basketball after leading Florida Tech to an 11-0 record, its best start in program history, and a No. 11 national ranking, which was the highest in school history up until that point.
During Mims’ first year in Melbourne in 2005-06, the Panthers finished with a record of 7-21. His first win as head coach came in his first game, a 91-89 double overtime victory over Valdosta State on Nov. 15, 2005. Tech defeated Florida Memorial 90-84 in his third game and then routed Southeastern 109-67 at home later in the season. The Panthers closed out the season with four wins in its final six games, including wins over SSC foes Saint Leo (85-81), Tampa (69-64) and Florida Southern (85-82).
As a European professional head coach, Billy Mims coached three different clubs and led them all to National Championship success. In England, he was named the British Basketball League (BBL) Coach of the Year twice and National Coach of the Month five times. Two of his professional players received the highest honor possible in English basketball being named the BBL Player of the Year. Mims was twice chosen to coach in the prestigious BBL All-Star game and served as an advanced scout for the England National team. In his one season in the Irish Premier League, he led Neptune Basketball Club Cork to both the National League and National Top 4 Championships. Overall, Mims has guided teams to seven national championships in Europe.
Additionally, Mims has served as a regular commentator for the NBA on the BBC, Sky Sports, and Channel 5 in England, and hosted his own weekly radio talk show in Florida on ESPN Radio and Space Coast Daily TV, "The Billy Mims Show." A very active coach worldwide in youth development for the game of basketball, Mims has run clinics and summer camps for boys and girls in the USA, South America, England, Ireland, Italy, Greece, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands. In 2010, Mims was invited to speak at an international coaching clinic held in conjunction with the FIBA Senior Men’s World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. He was invited in 2019 to Greece to speak during the U19 World Championships in Heraklion, Crete, and again in 2021 to speak during the FIBA U20 European Championships also held in Crete.
Mims resides in Rockledge, Fla. with his wife Lynne, who is an instructor and the Academic Chair for Undergraduate Online Business Programs at Florida Tech. They have three children, Courtney, Callie, and Josh.
