Veteran men’s basketball assistant coach Jeff Rafferty changed locations from Newark, Delaware, to Newark, NJ, joining the NJIT men’s basketball coaching staff in June 2016 after serving nine years at the University of Delaware, where he held the title of Associate Head Coach since before the 2013-14 season.
Rafferty, who enters his fifth season as a Highlander in 2020-21, has mentored several All-Conference selections in his tenure at NJIT, including senior Zach Cooks, a Second Team All-ASUN honoree in 2019-20. Cooks led the ASUN in scoring (19.7 ppg) last season.
Coach Rafferty helped make NJIT history in the 2018-19 season with a 22-13 record, 11 road wins and 13 non-conference wins – all program records. NJIT’s ASUN Championship Quarterfinals win at Florida Gulf Coast marked the program’s first-ever ASUN tournament victory. The team earned its third CIT berth and advanced as far as the CIT Quarterfinals following a first round win as second round bye as one of the top three seeds in the tournament.
The 2018-19 season was the winningest in program history.
For the first time in program history, NJIT received its first AP Top-25 Poll vote on Dec. 10, 2018. The Highlanders received one vote for three consecutive weeks (Dec. 10-24).
The 2018-19 team earned multiple accolades for their performances on and off the court, including Abdul Lewis (Preseason All-ASUN, First Team All-ASUN), Zach Cooks (Second Team All-ASUN), Shyquan Gibbs (ASUN All-Academic Team, CoSIDA Academic All-District), Diandre Wilson (ASUN All-Tournament Team) and Reilly Walsh (Preseason Fan-Voted ASUN Defensive Player of the Year).
Individually, Lewis broke Tim Coleman’s all-time rebounds record (773), eclipsed 1,000 career points (1,015, NJIT & 232 South Alabama), reached 1,000 career rebounds (773, NJIT & 227, South Alabama), broke his own single-game rebounds record versus Jacksonville with 21 boards and set NJIT’s double-double record with 22 in his three seasons for the Highlanders. Cooks also added his name to the record books by tying Damon Lynn’s single-game scoring record (34 points) against Quinnipiac in the CIT First Round and averaged 17.6 ppg, third most in NJIT history.
Rafferty also coached Damon Lynn his senior season, who became the program's all-time leading scorer on Nov. 11, 2016, and finished his career with 2,153 points. He currently ranks fifth in Division-I history with 434 career three-pointers.
He also coached Tim Coleman in his final season with NJIT as he finished as the program's all-time leading rebounder (762) and fourth all-time scorer (1,462). He departed the NCAA ranks as the only active Division-I player with at least 1,400 points, 750 rebounds, 225 assists (244), 150 steals (154) and 135 blocks (135).
Rafferty, a 1997 graduate of Springfield College, enjoyed one of his highlight seasons with Delaware in 2013-14, when the Blue Hens finished 25-10, tying for the second-most wins in program history, and made the 2014 NCAA Tournament as the #13 seed in the East Regional.
Delaware was champion of the highly-regarded Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) that season, winning 14 conference games for the Blue Hens’ first CAA regular season crown. They followed the regular season by sweeping to three wins in the 2014 CAA Tournament, good for an automatic spot in the NCAAs, where they lost in the second round to Michigan State, ranked 11th in the nation.
Rafferty has been credited for playing an instrumental role in the recruitment of and development of Devon Saddler, Delaware’s all-time leading scorer (2,222 career points), and Jamelle Hagins, the all-time leading rebounder and shot blocker for the Blue Hens, among other recent standouts.
Rafferty’s work in helping to build the Delaware program was recognized in 2008, when FOXSports.com named him one of the Top 10 Mid-Major Assistant Coaches in the country and in 2012, when RecruitDirt.com named him as the top assistant coach in the CAA.
Immediately prior to joining the Delaware coaching staff, Rafferty was an assistant coach at the University of New Hampshire and before that spent four years as the top assistant at UMass Lowell when that program competed in Division II. In his time at UML, the River Hawks were a combined 94-30 and made back-to-back trips to the Division II national Elite Eight in 2003 and 2004.
He coached in NCAA Division III at Union College (2000-01) and at his alma mater, Springfield, which was a combined 40-17 and reached the Division III Sweet Sixteen in his second season on staff.
He began his coaching career with an internship with the NBA’s Boston Celtics and coached in 1997-98 at one-time NJIT opponent Texas Pan American (now known as Texas Rio Grande Valley).
He holds the distinction of having worked as a coach in all three levels of the NCAA (Division I, II, and III), as well as the NBA.
He and his wife, Whitney, are the parents of sons Patrick and Brendan and a daughter, Kaitlyn.
(Last Updated: August 2020)
