Jim Wooldridge
Head Coach • jim.wooldridge@ucr.edu

Jim Wooldridge was named the sixth head coach in UC Riverside history on May 2, 2007, bringing a career record of 312-237 and a well-respected reputation as a skilled coach and program builder. The hallmarks of his squads have historically been characterized by team work, defense and tough rebounding. His 20-plus year career includes stops as head coach at Central Missouri State, Texas State, Louisiana Tech and Kansas State and two years as an assistant coach to Tim Floyd with the Chicago Bulls.

Wooldridge spent six years at Kansas State, leading the Wildcats to their first winning season in six years in the 2004-05 season when the team posted a 17-12 record in the Big 12 Conference. His teams never finished with fewer than 11 wins and his 83 wins rank sixth on Kansas State's all-time wins list.
Wooldridge saw six players earn All-Big 12 honors and coached 2004 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Jeremiah Massey. Guard Larry Reid (2002), forwards Cartier Martin (2006, 2007) and Massey (2005) each earned All-Big 12 second team honors during their careers.

In 1998-99 and 1999-00, Wooldridge worked as an assistant coach under former college teammate Floyd. He was instrumental in the development of several top NBA players, including 1999-2000 Co-Rookie of the Year Elton Brand and Ron Artest, who earned All-Rookie team honors in 1999-2000. He was considered the staff authority on the triangle offense, having taught it as the head coach at Louisiana Tech, and learned it from friend and triangle "guru" Tex Winter.

Wooldridge started his collegiate coaching career as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech in the 1977-78 season, then spent four years as an assistant coach at the NAIA's East Central State. He returned to the NCAA in 1982 as a member of Lynn Nance's staff at Division II Central Missouri State, where he was the program's chief recruiter. During those there seasons, the Mules were 74-17 (.813) and won the 1984 NCAA Division II national championship They won the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association title that season and were co-champions the following year. When Nance left following the 1985 season, Wooldridge was named head coach. In his first three years at the helm, Central Missouri finished among the top three in the MIAA regular-season standings, including a 20-8 campaign in 1986-87, and advanced to the league playoffs in each of those years. That was only the beginning of a superb run, which saw the Mules reach the NCAA Tournament and post 22-plus victories for three straight seasons.

Following a 22-9 season, Wooldridge’s CMSU squad posted a 27-6 mark in 1989-90, the second-most wins in school history. Only the 29-3 national championship team of 1984 won more games. After finishing second in the league tourney in 1990, the Mules advanced to the NCAA West Regional Final, where they lost by four points to eventual national runner-up Cal State Bakersfield.

A native of Oklahoma City, Okla., Wooldridge played on Putnam City High School’s class 4A state championship team in 1972. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Louisiana Tech in 1977, then earned a master’s degree in education from East Central University in 1979. Wooldridge and his wife, Ann, have two children, Jamie and Eric.

Vonn Webb
Assistant Coach • vonn.webb@ucr.edu

A heralded and respected recruiter, Vonn Webb joined the UC Riverside men’s basketball coaching staff in the spring of 2005 after two years at Fresno State University, bringing with him over 17 years of coaching experience.

Webb joined Ray Lopes’ staff at Fresno State in 2003, where he assisted in all aspects of recruiting as well as individual player development.

Webb was an acclaimed coach at Washington Union High School in Fresno, CA, where he served two terms of duty, from 1995-99 and 2000-03, amassing an .850 winning percentage (182-32). During his career he helped to develop some the top basketball talent coming out of the San Joaquin Valley, including current NBA players Chris Jeffries and Deshawn Stevenson. During his tenure he earned a pair of CIF State Championships, five section championships, seven league championships and two section runners-up.

Webb earned several honors, including California State Coach of the Year in 1996-97 and Fresno Bee Central Section Coach of the Year in 1996, 1998 and 1999.

He also has 15 years of teaching experience including health, physical education, world history, English, literature and multicultural studies.

Webb spent the 1999-00 season as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming under Coach Steve McClain. That year the Cowboys posted a 19-12 record and reached the semi-finals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Webb attended Neosho County Community College in Chanute Kansas from 1981-83, where he was a two-year letterwinner. He went on to Kansas State University for a year, then transferred to Western New Mexico University, where he earned his degree in 1989. While at WNMU he played football and basketball, earning all-league honors in football.

Webb is a member of the Black Coaches Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Away from the court he participates as a board member for the “Hope for Youth” group homes.

Dennis Cutts
Assistant Coach • dennis.cutts@ucr.edu

Dennis Cutts joined the UC Riverside men's basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach in May, 2007, rejoining Head Coach Jim Wooldridge, with whom he had worked at Kansas State as the team's director of basketball operations. Cutts brings over 15 years of coaching experience to the Highlander bench.

As the director of basketball operations with the Wildcats, Cutts assisted in coordinating recruiting activities for the program, running the Jim Wooldridge Basketball Camp, organizing K-State coaching clinics and overseeing the Wildcat Faculty/Staff Club. In addition, he coordinated all team travel and oversaw special projects for the basketball office.

Cutts was an associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for Phil Johnson at San Jose State from 2002 to 2005. He assisted in the development and recruitment of several all-conference players, including Marquin Chandler, a second team All-Western Athletic Conference (WAC) forward. In addition to his on-the-floor coaching duties, Cutts was in charge of the team’s scheduling of opponents and facilities as well as academic monitoring.

Cutts was a four-year letterwinner at State University of New York at Albany, helping his team to four consecutive winning seasons, including three 20-win seasons. As a senior, Cutts was team captain and most valuable player of a Great Dane squad that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in business administration in 1990.

Following graduation, the Massapequa, NY native began his coaching career in Killarney, Ireland in 1990 as a player-coach for the St. Paul’s Basketball Club senior men’s “A” team. He also coached the men’s “B” team, the senior women’s “A” team and boys’ teams ranging in ages up to 19-years-old. In addition, he was an instructor at the Institute for International Sport in Killarney.

He returned to the United States in 1991 and spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Pima Community College (1991-94) in Tucson, AZ and two as an assistant coach at Northland Pioneer College (1994-96) in Holbrook, AZ.

Cutts reached the Division I level in 1996 when he joined the staff at Stephen F. Austin, spending three years as the program’s recruiting coordinator and overseeing the development of the Lumberjacks’ offensive system. He then moved on to Northern Arizona and worked under Mike Adras, where he was assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 1999 through 2002. In 2000 he helped the Lumberjacks to a 20-11 mark, the Big Sky Conference Tournament Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. He coordinated the team’s offensive schemes and worked in the development of the perimeter players. Cutts also had duties in scouting opponents and academic supervision.

Cutts is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He and his wife Evon reside in Riverside.

Chris Brazelton
Assistant Coach • chris.brazelton@ucr.edu

Chris Brazelton was named a member of the UC Riverside men's basketball coaching staff in the summer of 2007. He joined UCR from the University of New Orleans, where he spent the 2006-07 season as a graduate assistant coach under Privateers' Head Coach Buzz Williams.

Brazelton is a native of Highland, CA and is a graduate of nearby Redlands East Valley HS. He earned his degree in speech communication from Fresno State University in May, 2006, working as head manager under Head Coach Steve Cleveland.

Brazelton began his collegiate career at UC Santa Cruz, averaging 6.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He then transferred to Fresno State, where he made the team as a walk-on and redshirted in 2003-04. In 2004-05 he was named a Fresno State Scholar-Athlete.

An All-Citrus Belt performer in both basketball and track in high school, Brazelton was also a member of the National Honor Society and the California Scholastic Federation.
He was rated as one of the top shooting guards in California by socalhoops.com. He played for the Inland Empire Basketball Program AAU team under the guidance of Coaches Keith Howard and Julius Patterson, and appeared in the 2001 IEBP All-Star game in Riverside County.

Brazelton is single and resides in Riverside. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, listening to music and reading.

John Smallwood
Director of Basketball Operations • john.smallwood@ucr.edu

John Smallwood was named the director of basketball operations at UC Riverside in May, 2007, following four years as a student-manager at Kansas State University under Coaches Jim Wooldridge and Bob Huggins.

As the Wildcats' senior manager, he set up practices, helped with correspondence to recruits and assisted the staff.

Smallwood graduated from Kansas State University in 2006 with a degree in social science. He is a graduate of Shawnee Mission West HS in Overland Park, KS. A die-hard basketball fan, Smallwood missed just 10 Kansas basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse between the ages of 5 and 18.

In his free time, Smallwood enjoys bar-be-queing and bowling. He resides in Riverside