Ben Witherspoon has been coaching in the Central Florida area since 2013 and joined the UCF men’s basketball staff in June 2022 as a special assistant to the head coach. He was promoted to an assistant coach role in October 2023.
The Knights found success in Witherspoon's first year as an assistant coach, which also happened to be the Black and Gold's first year in the Big 12 Conference. UCF tallied seven victories during the conference slate, with all wins coming against legacy league foes. The Black and Gold earned three ranked wins along the way, the most in a single season in program history, topping No. 3 Kansas, No. 23 Oklahoma and No. 23 Texas Tech and holding each to under 65 points. UCF’s defense was a bright spot once again, with blocks and steals per game ranking top 22 in the nation as well as top 45 in turnovers per game. The Knights earned the No. 12 seed at their inaugural Big 12 Conference Championship, drawing No. 13 Oklahoma State. After erasing a 12-point lead in to win in Stillwater during the regular season, UCF posted a dominant second half at the league tournament, winning 77-62. The Knights earned their second straight nod to the postseason and fourth in the last eight seasons by taking part in the NIT, earning a No. 4 seed.
As a special assistant to the head coach in 2022-23, Witherspoon had many responsibilities, including video coordination and multiple on-court efforts. UCF won 19 games that season, en route to a postseason NIT berth and win over Florida in the first round.
Prior to joining the UCF men’s basketball staff in June 2022, Witherspoon spent three seasons (2019-2022) as the head men’s basketball coach at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando. As head coach, Witherspoon led the Panthers to unprecedented success.
In 2019, he led his team to its first 20-win season in five years en route to a district championship. He followed up with even greater success in year two as Witherspoon’s Panthers went on to win their first state championship in program history and finished the season nationally ranked. In 2021-22, they were again nationally ranked throughout the entire season and finished as the state runner-ups.
While coaching, Witherspoon also taught business at Dr. Phillips High School.
Prior to his stint at Dr. Phillips, Witherspoon enjoyed two stints at Montverde Academy as an assistant coach in 2013-14 and 2018-19. In 2013-14, he coached a team with current NBA players Ben Simmons (Brooklyn Nets) and D’Angelo Russell (Minnesota Timberwolves) to an undefeated national championship season.
Witherspoon was also the head coach at Cypress Creek High School in Orlando in from 2016-18.
Witherspoon has seen many of his athletes go on to experience great success at the next level. In his career, he has coached four high-major Division I players, trained and developed a McDonalds All-American in Ernest Udeh Jr., and had 10 player go on to play college basketball in his three years as head coach of the Panthers.
As a student-athlete himself, Witherspoon played his freshman year at Lipscomb university in 2001 before graduating from Embry-Riddle in 2006.
He currently resides in Winter Garden with his wife and daughter.