Gregory Russell Paulus (born July 3, 1986) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Niagara Purple Eagles men's basketball team. He previously served as an assistant basketball coach for Louisville, Ohio State and George Washington University. Paulus is a former multi-sport athlete, playing college basketball as a point guard on the Duke University men's team and later football at Syracuse University.
Greg Paulus was born in Medina, Ohio, and grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, before moving to the Syracuse suburb of Manlius, New York. He has six siblings: David, Matt, Dan, Chris, Mike and Sarah. He was named Gatorade Athlete of the Year due to his accomplishments in football and basketball. Paulus was the quarterback of the 2004 Christian Brothers Academy football team, which won the New York State Championship by defeating New Rochelle High School and future NFL player Ray Rice 41âÂÂ35 in the title game at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Paulus was also named New York State Mr. Basketball following his senior season at CBA. He was ranked as the number one recruit out of high school.
Paulus received scholarship offers to play football at the University of Miami and Notre Dame. He also received basketball scholarship offers from Duke, Syracuse, Georgetown, Florida and North Carolina. He chose to play basketball and joined Duke.
Paulus was a member of the Duke team that finished with a 32âÂÂ4 record and won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular-season and tournament championship. Paulus led the ACC in assists per game at 5.2. He set a Duke freshman record for assists in a game with 15 (with three turnovers) in a 104âÂÂ77 home victory over Valparaiso on December 18, 2005; that assist total was only one away from the all-time single-game Duke record of 16, set by NCAA career assist leader Bobby Hurley. He was selected for the All-America freshman 2nd team.
His 187 assists ranked third behind Bobby Hurley (288 in 1990) and Jay Williams (220 in 2000) among the freshman assist leaders in Duke history.
Paulus injured his foot during the preseason. After the season, associate coach Chris Collins said Paulus struggled because he had a tarsal coalition, and it was corrected through surgery. He had a career high with 25 points against Virginia Commonwealth on March 15, 2007.
Paulus led Duke to a 28âÂÂ6 record including an 89–78 victory over rival UNC in which Paulus led Duke in scoring with 18 points. He led the Atlantic Coast Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio during the 2007âÂÂ08 season and shot over 42 percent from beyond the arc on his way to making 82 three-point field goals.
After being the starting point guard for three years, Paulus started only five games during his senior season. Paulus averaged 16 minutes a game, in part due to the development of sophomore guard Nolan Smith.
Paulus announced on May 14, 2009, that he would play college football at Syracuse University. Paulus was named the starting quarterback for the 2009 season.
He won four games and lost eight during his lone season at Syracuse, completing 67.7 percent of his passes and throwing for 2,025 yards and 13 touchdowns, and threw a school- and Big East-record five interceptions in one game against South Florida.
Paulus tried out with the NFL's New Orleans Saints in May 2010. Contrary to initial reports, he was not offered a contract. He got another shot with the Saints in June 2010 when he was again invited to minicamp.
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2005âÂÂ06 | style="text-align:left;"| Duke | 36 || 33 || 32.3 || .373 || .314 || .784 || 2.8 || 5.2 || 1.6 || â || 6.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2006âÂÂ07 | style="text-align:left;"| Duke | 33 || 29 || 32.4 || .456 || .450 || .753 || 2.2 || 3.8 || 1.2 || .1 || 11.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2007âÂÂ08 | style="text-align:left;"| Duke | 34 || 33 || 27.7 || .423 || .423 || .827 || 2.1 || 3.2 || 1.5 || .1 || 11.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2008âÂÂ09 | style="text-align:left;"| Duke | 36 || 5 || 16.1 || .373 || .336 || .692 || 1.3 || 1.3 || .8 || .0 || 4.9 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 139 || 100 || 27.0 || .415 || .398 || .775 || 2.1 || 3.4 || 1.2 || .0 || 8.6