Amir Abdur-Rahim, the coach of South Florida's men's basketball program, has died. The tragic and unexpected news was announced Thursday by the university. He was 43 years old.
Abdur-Rahim was undergoing a medical procedure at a Tampa-area hospital when he passed away due to complications that arose during the procedure.
Abdur-Rahim had been a rising star in coaching in recent years and had built up a tremendous name as a quick-fix wizard. Off the court, his reputation was highly regarded throughout the sport. The Bulls went 25-8 last season, Abdur-Rahim's first with the program, winning the American Athletic Conference with a 16-2 mark and improving USF's win total by 11 games from the previous year. The Bulls' regular-season AAC title was the first in school history; the team's 25 wins were also a single-season school record. Thanks to a school-best 15-game home winning streak, USF broke through in the AP Top 25 under Abdur-Rahim during the 2023-24 season, marking the first time in program history the school had notched such an achievement.
He quite literally changed broken programs for the better, doing it multiple times in a short window of his rapidly rising track in college basketball.
Prior to being hired at USF, Abdur-Rahim coached Kennesaw State to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023. In four years, he went from coaching a one-win program in his first season at Kennesaw State to overseeing a 26-9 group out of the ASUN that nearly upset Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In his four years at Kennesaw State, Abdur-Rahim's teams at least doubled their win total from the prior season. Prior to Abdur-Rahim's coaching job, no school had ever gone from a one-win season to making the NCAA Tournament in a four-season span.
With 18 years of coaching experience, Abdur-Rahim was widely respected and well-connected across college basketball. He won multiple coach-of-the-year honors at his multiple stops amid his rise in college basketball. He was 70-82 in five seasons overall at USF and Kennesaw State.
His press conference in 2023 at USF displayed so much of what made Abdur-Rahim such a magnetic presence.
A native of Marietta, Georgia, Abdur-Rahim was a 2004 graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University. As a player, he was an All-Southland guard three times. He earned his master's from Murray State. He was a rising assistant for years prior to his promotion to guiding Kennesaw State's program, notably helping land future No. 1 NBA pick Anthony Edwards when Abdur-Rahim was on staff at the University of Georgia.
Abdur-Rahim was the younger brother of Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who spent 13 seasons in the NBA.
Amir Abdur-Rahim is survived by his wife, Arianne Buchanan, and three young children: daughters Laila and Lana, and son Aydin.