Jeff Tungate was named the Head Coach for the Oakland Women’s Basketball team on July 16, 2013 and is currently entering his 12th season at the helm. In the time before his current position he spent the previous six seasons as the Associate Head Coach for the Oakland Men’s Basketball program. In 2014, Tungate received the inaugural Oakland Athletics Coach of the Year award.
He also served two seasons as the Associate Men’s Basketball Head Coach for Purdue Fort Wayne, where under coaching great Dan Fife he helped set a program Division I school record for wins in both of his seasons there, along with a five year tenure as Head Coach at Lincoln Memorial University.
Tungate graduated from Oakland in 1993 with a degree in English. During his time at OU he played on the baseball team where he earned Preseason All-American honors in 1992. During the 1991 season, Tungate hit .397 which ranks fifth in school history in season batting average. He garnered All-Region and First-Team All-GLIAC honors.
Over a successful decade-plus as Oakland Head Women’s Basketball Coach he has accumulated the third most all-time wins in program history, including two wins over nationally ranked teams and a 17-5 record in the Metro Series Rivalry against Detroit Mercy.
Tungate has guided many players to success during and after their playing careers, coaching eight players who have gone on to play professionally overseas, nineteen times where a player has received All-Conference honors, and 59 times they have received Academic Honor Roll recognition. He has led Oakland greats such as Olivia Nash, Elena Popkey, Taylor Jones, and many more.
In his first season as Head Coach at Oakland, Tungate reignited the winning fire into Oakland Women’s Basketball, leading the Golden Grizzlies to its first non-losing season in league play since 2010-11 with an 8-8 record. He also implemented a new offense that averaged the most points per game since 2007-08 and the most total points in five seasons. He coached Oakland’s first-ever All-Horizon League performers in Bethany Watterworth (2nd team) and Kim Bee (All-Defensive).
In his second season, Tungate guided the Golden Grizzlies to a sixth place finish in the Horizon League, which was the 12th-ranked conference in the NCAA. He also coached back-to-back All-Horizon League defensive team selections as Sinclair Russell was named as an honoree after leading the league in blocks. Oakland secured a victory over Green Bay on the road 70-67 on Feb. 4, becoming only the sixth Horizon League team to defeat the Phoenix at home in league play in 16 years.
During Tungate’s third season in 2015-16, Oakland ranked first in the league in field goal percentage (.427), second in the league in scoring (75.4 ppg) and third in three-point percentage (.327). The Golden Grizzlies concluded the non-conference regular season with an 8-3 record, tying the 2004-05 and 2008-09 teams for the best non-conference winning percentage (72.7%) to begin a season in the Division I era of Oakland Women’s Basketball.
In the same season, he also guided Oakland to a 77-69 win over Green Bay (Mar. 5), becoming only the second team since YSU in 2013-14 to sweep the Phoenix in conference play. The Golden Grizzlies defeated #22 Green Bay, 58-56, (Jan. 28) which marked Oakland’s first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 21 South Dakota State, 67-51, on Jan. 5, 2009.
Oakland continued to advance under Tungate’s leadership in 2016-17 having their best season in recent history, finishing tied for third in the conference with a 12-6 Horizon League record, which marked the first time the Golden Grizzlies won 12 league games since joining the conference in the 2013-14 season. It also was the first time Oakland won 12 conference games since going 14-4 in the Summit League in 2009-10. The team averaged 76.6 ppg which ranked 19th in the nation and closed out the regular season winning nine of their final 12 games.
In the historic season Oakland also set the program record in the Division I era with 12 wins by a margin of 20 points or more, blowing away the previous mark of nine in 2006-07. A win at YSU (2/23) marked the first time in the Division I era the Golden Grizzlies won four consecutive league games by a margin of 20 points or more. Oakland defeated No. 21 Green Bay, 74-71, (Feb. 2) snapping Green Bay's 11-game win streak and marked the second consecutive year the Golden Grizzlies defeated the Phoenix while being nationally ranked.
The Golden Grizzlies earned their first Horizon League postseason win during the 2017-18. With a 15-16 overall record and a 7-11 league record, the Golden Grizzlies earned the seventh seed in the league tournament where they went on to beat no. 10 seed UIC 80-46.
Under Tungate, the Golden Grizzlies made another deep Horizon League Championship run in 2021-22. A team who allowed the second lowest opponent three-point field goal percentage (.282), they finished the season 11-9 in conference play. Oakland finished the regular season as the seventh seed where they would win a pair of Horizon League Championship games, first beating the no. 10 seed Wright State Raiders 54-45 and then advancing to upset the no. 2 seed YSU Penguins 63-52 in the quarterfinals. Oakland fell just one game short of the Championship as they fell to top ranked IUPUI in the semifinals.
In 2023-24, Tungate led Oakland to a 2-2 record, including a 91-87 overtime win over Akron in the season opener, before going on medical leave for the remainder of the season. The Golden Grizzlies would go on to become the top ranked team in the Horizon League in steals and forced turnovers over the season, ranking fifth in the nation in steals per game (12.1) and 21st in the nation in turnovers forced per game (20.07).
Jeff is married to the former Kelley Kleinhans. They both reside in Rochester, Mich., with their two sons, Jordan and Cooper.
