JT Gritzmacher starts his third season as UW-La Crosse's men's basketball head coach in 2025-26.
The Eagles finished 25-6 overall and 12-2 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in 2024-25, setting a single-season school record with its 25 overall victories. The 12 league wins were the most since finishing 2006-07. UWL advanced to the WIAC Tournament Championship game for the third time in school history.
UWL earned an at-large bid to the 2025 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships, advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. The Eagles opened the national tournament with a 120-93 victory over Greenville University (Ill.), earning their first NCAA Division III victory since 2022. The 120 points rank fourth in single-game school history. UWL followed with a 77-67 win over St. Norbert College (Wis.) in the second round to advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. The opening two games were held at The La Crosse Center. The Eagles earned a 72-65 home victory over ninth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University in Mitchell Hall in the NCAA III Sweet 16 before falling 80-66 to 17th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) in the NCAA Division III Elite Eight.
Dustin Derousseau, Sam Grieger and JJ Paider were all named to the 2024-25 All-WIAC First Team while Will Fuhrmann and Karter Thomas both earned all-conference honorable mention awards. It marked the first time in single-seasons school history UWL had three players voted to the All-WIAC First Team. Derousseau was also selected to the 2024-25 All-WIAC Defensive Team and to the D3hoops.com All-Region 9 Third Team while Grieger was voted to the D3hoops.com All-Region 9 Second Team and to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 9 First Team.
UWL finished sixth in the final 2024-25 D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, its highest ranking in the final poll of the season.
UWL went 14-12 overall and 8-6 in the WIAC in 2023-24 under Gritzmacher, earning a league tournament appearance. The Eagles tied for second in the WIAC standings. Paider was named to the 2023-24 All-WIAC First Team while Fuhrmann and Derousseau earned honorable mention accolades. The Eagles' Jake Gross was named to the 2023-24 All-WIAC Defensive Team.
A West Allis, Wis. native, Gritzmacher has spent three seasons as the head coach at Bryant & Stratton College (Wis.) prior to arriving at UWL. During his time at Bryant & Stratton (Wis.), the Bobcats compiled a 57-30 overall record including winning a single-season school record 26 games this past season. In Gritzmacher's final season, the Bobcats spent time ranked in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Top 20 including finishing the season ranked 17th. The 2022-23 season saw the Bobcats advance to the NJCAA Region IV Championship where they fell 77-73 to Waubonsee Community College (Ill.).
Prior to taking over at Bryant & Stratton (Wis.), Gritzmacher was an assistant at Southeastern Community College (Iowa). At Southeastern (Iowa), his responsibilities included recruiting, managing video software, preparing scouting reports, and other tasks assigned by the head coach. He was a part of a program that won over 70 games in three seasons.
Before Southeastern (Iowa), Gritzmacher was an assistant coach for his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, from 2015-17. As an assistant, he was primarily involved in recruiting and opponent scouting reports. In the 2016-17 season, the Warhawks won 22 games and finished the season in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Tournament. It was his second stint as an assistant on the coaching staff at UW-Whitewater as he served as a student assistant from 2011-13. In 2013, the Warhawks won their second consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championship and won the NCAA Division III title.
He earned his bachelor's degree from UW-Whitewater in 2013 in health, human performance and recreation.
In between his two coaching stops at UW-Whitewater, Gritzmacher earned his Master's Degree from Longwood University (Va.) where he was a graduate assistant with the men's basketball program. At Longwood (Va.), Gritzmacher was involved in all assets of the NCAA Division I program, a member of the Big South Conference. He organized and arranged all travel, oversaw academics, coordinated film for games, planned and coordinated official visits, and instructed individual workouts with men's basketball student-athletes.
Gritzmacher also has coaching at the club level along with assisting at numerous camps. He served as the head coach for the 16U and 17U teams for the Lou Chapman Basketball Academy (2014) while also coaching the 17U and 10U teams for Wisconsin Playground Warriors Grassroots Program (2011-12). Gritzmacher also served as a recruiting coordinator for the Wisconsin Playground Warriors, managing a recruiting database for all age levels. He was responsible for video at all events for the 15U-17U levels, handled scheduling and coordinated administrative needs and other duties as assigned by the executive director of the organization.
Gritzmacher has worked numerous summer camps, including those conducted at the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University (Wis.). He served as a student manager for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's basketball program from 2009-11.
Gritzmacher and his wife Melissa, have three children, Omari, Oaklyn and Omaya.
