JOHN KRIKORIAN was named men's basketball coach at Christopher Newport University on June 14, 2010. He is just the fourth head coach in the program's 53-year history, and has led the Captains to remarkable success, including its first three Final Four appearances and first National Championship in the 2022-2023 season.
The Captains defeated Mount Union in the 2023 title game in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to capture the school's first title in 55 seasons of CNU men's basketball. Krikorian's squads also advanced to the 2015-2016 Final Four in Salem, Va., as well as the 2018-2019 Final Four in Fort Wayne. In his tenure, Krikorian has led the Captains to nine NCAA Tournaments in 12 seasons, including the last seven tournaments. CNU is the only school in the nation to win at least one game in each of the last seven NCAA tourneys, and Krikorian now has a career mark in tournament games of 23-7.
Krikorian has improved the program’s successful history since taking over from longtime coach and Athletic Director C.J. Woollum, who led the program for 26 seasons. His overall record at CNU is 290-65 (.817) through his first dozen years at the helm. He was named the National Coach of the Year by the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) following his national title in 2023.
Krikorian’s teams at CNU have won at least 18 games per season since he took over, and have advanced to the conference championship game every year for the last nine seasons in the Capital and Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference.
The National Championship team of 2022-2023 tied the school mark for victories with 30, finishing 30-3, and ending the year on a 15-game winning streak. The Captains opened the season with a nine-game winning run, and earned the first-ever #1 ranking in the D3hoops.com weekly national poll. CNU sailed through the C2C Tournament with two victories in Santa Cruz, Ca., and then won six straight NCAA Tournament games (two in Hampden-Sydney, Va., two at the Freeman Center, and two in Fort Wayne) to claim the crown. After winning the national title in Fort Wayne, CNU was the unanimous #1 pick in the post-season poll.
CNU registered a record of 27-3 in the 2021-2022 campaign, falling at Marietta in the Elite 8. The Captains were 23-6 in 2019-2020, and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament by recording victories over Colby and Nichols at Steven Institute of Technology in New Jersey. The Captains were scheduled to host Hobart in the NCAA's before the remainder of the tournament was canceled due to CoVID. Christopher Newport was ranked 17th in the country in the final national poll.
The Captains posted a 29-4 record in 2018-2019, winning both the CAC regular and post-season titles. CNU won four games in the NCAA Tournament, two at the Freeman Center and then two more in a sectional in Clinton, NY., where they ousted NESCAC programs, Hamilton and Williams, on back-to-back nights to reach the Final Four. His 2015-2016 squad finished with a 30-2 record, at the time setting the new school all-time single season win mark, and advancing to the Final Four for the first time ever.
Krikorian, who enjoyed a very successful four-year stint as the head coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, is a native of Auburn, Massachusetts, “Coach K” compiled a record of 65-42 (.607) at the Merchant Marine Academy, and led the squad to a 24-5 record his last season there in 2009-2010. The Mariners won the Landmark Conference regular-season and post-season championships that year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He was named the 2010 Landmark Conference Coach of the Year.
Krikorian’s journey to CNU began with a passion for basketball from an early age, and a tremendous work ethic on the court as an athlete and in the classroom as a student. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering in 1996 from the University of Pennsylvania, where he played on the junior varsity basketball team coached by Steve Donahue, who later became head coach at Boston College after years of success at Cornell. Krikorian played as a sophomore and junior on the Penn JV squad, and then became a student assistant at Penn during his senior season, his first taste of coaching hoops. Following his college days, Krikorian spent two years in the business world working for Princeton Consultants, an information management company in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1998, Krikorian returned to his passion and accepted the position of graduate assistant basketball coach at West Virginia Wesleyan College. What followed was a steady climb up the ladder of the college coaching ranks.
After one season at West Virginia Wesleyan, “Coach K” made his first stop at the Merchant Marine Academy as an assistant coach under Billy Lange during the 1999-2000 season. After a season there, he returned to his alma mater for two seasons, working as an assistant at Penn under Fran Dunphy. There he would be a part of one of the nation’s biggest turnarounds as the Quakers won 25 games in 2001. Krikorian then accepted an assistant position at another Division I program, Lafayette College in Easton, PA. There he assisted Fran O’Hanlon from 2002-2004. His journey then took him to Annapolis, MD, where he spent two years as an assistant at the United States Naval Academy (2004-2006)…re-uniting with head coach Billy Lange. His time at Navy came to an end when he was named the head coach at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 2006, beginning his head coaching career with an amazing four-year transformation of the Mariners.
Krikorian’s coaching resume now includes six seasons as an NCAA Division I assistant and 16 as a Division III head coach. His overall head coaching record is 355-107 (.768). Krikorian and his wife, Emily, reside in Newport News with their three children...daughters, Lillian Grace and Katherine Rose ...and son, Jack.
DOMINIC PARKER returned to Christopher Newport University in June of 2023 as Assistant Head Coach. Parker, a native of Raleigh, N.C., previously spent two seasons on the Captains' bench, and has most recently been working as an assistant coach at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, for the last three seasons.
"I am thrilled that Coach Parker will be back on our staff as Assistant Head Coach," Head Coach John Krikorian said. "He already knows many of our players and helped build the culture that has been behind so much of our success. He has the highest character, an elite work ethic, and his relationship skills are second to none. I'm confident that Dom is the right coach to help us build on our success and help us continue to move our program forward."
Parker spent the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons as an assistant coach on Krikorian's staff. His responsibilities included recruiting, scouting, fundraising, and running team camps. Parker helped the Captains to the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) regular-season championship both seasons. In 2018-19, the team won the CAC Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA Final Four. Parker was named to the 2018 Under Armour 30-Under-30 program while at CNU.
Parker spent one year as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore after leaving CNU in 2019. While at UMES, Parker was responsible for recruiting efforts, scouting, film, and coordinating study halls and academic meetings with student-athletes.
Parker originally came to Christopher Newport following two seasons assisting the Shenandoah University men's basketball program in Winchester. Parker earned both a bachelor's degree in Health, PE, Rec, and Dance and a master's degree in Sports Management from Virginia State University in 2012 and 2013, respectively. He began his coaching career at Virginia State as a graduate assistant in the 2012-2013 season. Parker assisted the program at Richard Bland College from 2013-2015. Richard Bland's 2014-2015 squad won the National Championship of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
ROLAND ROSS is the senior member of the Christopher Newport University athletic department. Ross is in his 39th season as assistant men's basketball coach and also serves as the department's Director of Community Outreach.
The Newport News native is a graduate of Warwick High School and Christopher Newport College. As a student-athlete, Ross averaged 10.2 points per game during his senior year, and was a key member of the squad that went 19-8 and won the Dixie Conference regular season title in 1979-80. As a coach, though, Ross has seen the program rise to amazing heights, and has been at the forefront of bringing some of the best talent in Division III history to the CNU campus.
He has the distinction of being the only person with ties to all four Christopher Newport men's basketball coaches in the 54-year history of the program. Ross played for program founder Bev Vaughan as well as Vaughan's successor, Glenn Russell. He began his coaching career under Russell, and remained on staff as C.J. Woollum took over the Captains in the 1984-85 season. Ross assisted Woollum for his entire 26-year run leading the program, and was a key part of 17 NCAA Tournament teams and 13 conference championships.
He has served under John Krikorian since the 2010-11 campaign, and has been on the bench as the Captains have advanced to the first two Final Fours in program history as well as seven NCAA trips in a ten-year span.
As the Director of Community Outreach, Ross has organized dozens of student-athlete initiatives that have improved and enhanced the lives of thousands in the local community. He was honored in 2016 when he became the first recipient of the C.J. Woollum Distinguished Service Award.
Ross received his bachelor's degree in sociology from Christopher Newport College in 1989. He and his wife, Bettina, have two daughters, Victoria and Bettina.
QUENTIN ACREE joined the Christopher Newport University men's basketball staff prior to the start of the 2023-2024 season. He spent the last two seasons on the coaching staff at his alma mater, Southern Virginia University.
While at SVU as an assistant coach, the Knights set a school record for most wins (14) in their NCAA Division III era, and also recorded their first conference tournament win (2022-23). Southern Virginia also set new school marks for three-point shooting, assists, and points per game.
Acree's tasks included assisting with scouting, analytics, as well as travel. His main area of focus was in player development, which resulted in two first team all-conference players, including a conference Rookie of the Year. He also also handled academic oversight as well, which led to a team average GPA of 3.45 over the two years in Buena Vista.
Acree is a native of Tampa, Florida, and received a bachelors degree in Business Management with a sports focus in 2022 from Southern Virginia University.