Scott Douglas Cherry (born February 18, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and the former head men's basketball coach at High Point University. He replaced Bart Lundy in 2009. Cherry is a native of Ballston Spa, New York.
Cherry played for the Saratoga Central Catholic High School Saints in Saratoga Springs, New York. He played under coach Bob King who is widely considered Spa Catholic's greatest basketball coach of all time. University of North Carolina basketball head coach Dean Smith visited the Spa Catholic gym to sign Cherry in 1988.
Cherry played for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team under Dean Smith from 1989 to 1993. He was a senior captain on the Tar Heel team that won the 1993 NCAA Tournament.
Following his college career, Cherry played one season for AEL in Limassol, Cyprus. He then returned to the U.S. and subsequently became a forklift salesman for three years.
Cherry began his coaching career in 1997 as an assistant coach at Bishop McGuinness (NC) High School. He then spent one season as a women's basketball assistant coach at Middle Tennessee State.
In 1999, he began the first of two stints as an assistant to Jim Larranaga at George Mason. He left the Patriots in 2002 and spent one year as an assistant at Tennessee Tech. He returned to George Mason in 2003 and participated in the Patriots 2006 run to the Final Four.
In 2007, he joined the staff of Darrin Horn as an assistant at Western Kentucky. Cherry followed Horn to South Carolina for the 2008âÂÂ09 season. He was named the head coach of High Point on March 26, 2009.
Cherry was hired as High Point Men's Basketball Coach on March 26, 2009. His first season in High Point, HPU finished 15âÂÂ15, a 6-game winning improvement for the previous season. The next season in High Point, Cherry lead his team to a 12âÂÂ19 record, and a semi-final spot in the Big South tournament, something High Point hadn't accomplished in 3 years. Cherry finished the 11âÂÂ12 season with a 13âÂÂ18 record, and High Point ranked 6th in the NCAA in three-point percentage. The next season, High Point played non-conference games at Wake Forest (L 60âÂÂ71) and Eastern Kentucky (L 70âÂÂ73). The Panthers finished 17âÂÂ14, and won the Big South north division, earning them a spot in the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, this was the schools first postseason appearance since becoming an NCAA division one school. Cherry was given a 3-year contract extension running through the 16âÂÂ17 season. Cherry again led the Panthers to a Big South north division championship, and the outright regular season championship, another program first. The Panthers were invited to the 2014 National Invitation Tournament, losing in the first round to Richard Pitino's Minnesota's team. Cherry led High Point to the best start in school history in 2014âÂÂ15 campaign, starting the season 14âÂÂ3. High Point lost in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, but received a bid to play in the 2015 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The Panthers earned their first postseason D1 victory with a 70âÂÂ64 win over Maryland Eastern Shore. Cherry become the winningest coach in the D1 era, passing Bart Lundy, in a 93âÂÂ69 win over NC Wesleyan on Nov 15, 2015. It was Cherry's 97th win at High Point.
On March 7, 2018, Cherry and High Point mutually agreed to part ways.