Head Coach Patrick Blake

Patrick Blake was introduced as the new men’s basketball coach at Chipola College during a press conference Monday, April 23.

Blake served as Assistant Coach at Chipola during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The Indians finished second in the Panhandle Conference this season and lost to Central Florida in the first round of the state tournament. In 2011, Chipola finished second in the State Tournament.

Coach Blake said, “I’m excited about the opportunity to lead the men’s basketball program. Chipola is one of the top programs in the country and I will work hard to make sure that our student-athletes represent the college at the highest level both on and off the court.”

Before Chipola, Blake served as a graduate assistant under Coach Andy Kennedy at the University of Mississippi. Blake graduated from the University of Louisville with a Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing. At Louisville, he was a student manager for Coach Rick Pitino for four years, serving as head manager for the last two. The Cardinals had great success during Blake’s four years with the program, winning the Conference USA title outright his freshman year and ending the season with a trip to the NCAA Final Four. The next three seasons would end with a run to his first NIT Final Four, a second round appearance and an Elite Eight Appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Blake is a native of Evansville, Indiana, where his parents, Mike and Jenny Blake, still live today. He replaces former Chipola coach Jake Headrick who has accepted an assistant coaching position at Samford University in Birmingham. In three seasons, Headrick finished second in the State Tournament in 2011 and lost in the first round of the 2012 State Tournament.

Coach Blake is the third straight Chipola assistant to be promoted to the head coaching job following Jake Headrick and Greg Heiar.