The American University Eagles are the Patriot League's Washington, D.C. representative — a program built on smarts, shooting, and the belief that a 4,500-seat arena on a leafy campus can produce March magic. Under Duane Simpkins, hired as AU's 18th head coach on April 1, 2023, the Eagles have become one of the league's model programs: a Patriot League championship, a trip to the NCAA tournament, and a style of play that wins with discipline and nearly shocked the world.
The peak — so far — came in Simpkins' second season. The 2024-25 Eagles went 22-13 with a 13-5 Patriot League mark, captured the conference tournament championship on a sold-out Bender Arena floor, and returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014. It was the fourth Patriot League title in program history, and it tied the program record for conference wins while setting a new mark with 299 three-pointers in a season. When the clock hit zero on March 12, Simpkins — a DeMatha Catholic legend, a 1992 McDonald's All-American, a three-year starter at Maryland under Hall of Famer Gary Williams — raised a trophy in just his second year at the helm.
The follow-up season, 2025-26, told the story of a program learning to live as the hunted. The Eagles finished 16-16 overall and 9-9 in the league, the fifth seed in the Patriot League tournament — but they did it playing the most entertaining basketball in school history. American averaged 74.6 points per game, its most in 30 years, and a program-record 9.0 three-pointers made per game. Greg Jones earned All-Defensive Team honors for the second straight year alongside an All-Patriot League Third Team selection; freshman standout Madden Collins joined him on the Third Team and made the All-Rookie Team. Simpkins was a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award for the second consecutive year, and the program earned the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award — because at American, the classroom standard travels with the team.
The roster reflects the program's identity: skilled, smart, and deep. Alongside Jones and Collins, the 2025-26 Eagles featured guards Geoff Sprouse, Matt Mayock, Wyatt Nausadis, Dean Hogans, Kade Sebastian, and Chris Eagan, forwards Julen Iturbe — named to the Academic All-Patriot League Team — and versatile pieces throughout the rotation. Earlier Simpkins-era standouts include All-Patriot League selections Elijah Stephens, Matt Rogers, and graduate transfer Lincoln Ball, who crossed town from George Washington to play a key role in the championship run. "If you want to start a team with championship-level players, championship-mentality players — Lincoln Ball — give me him every single day," Simpkins said.
Bender Arena is an intimate D.C. gem: 4,500 seats where the student section's energy makes the building feel twice its size. Simpkins has reinvigorated the fanbase — the Eagles have ranked among the Patriot League's attendance leaders, their highest placement in a decade — and on championship nights the little arena on Massachusetts Avenue shakes like a power-conference building. For a program that plays in the nation's capital, the home-court advantage is about intelligence and noise in equal measure.
The heritage runs through the Jeff Jones era, when the Eagles won back-to-back Patriot League tournaments in 2008 and 2009. Sharpshooting guard Garrison Carr remains the program's modern icon from those teams, and the 2009 NCAA tournament produced the program's signature almost-moment: a 14-seed American leading No. 1 Villanova deep into the second half before falling 80-72, the kind of game that made the whole country learn the Eagles' name for an afternoon. Simpkins' 2025 title was the program's first championship since that Jones era — a full-circle moment eleven years in the making.
Since the 2009 breakthrough, the Eagles have lived the cruel math of the Patriot League: one bid, a dozen contenders, and a tournament where the regular season buys you nothing but a home game. Colgate's dynasty made the road harder for everyone. But Simpkins has American in the mix every single year — second place in year one despite key injuries, a title in year two, and a young core in year three that plays the prettiest basketball in the league. The 2026-27 season, with conference play opening against Boston University on January 16 and Lafayette on January 23, is about climbing back to the top of the pile.
What defines American is the smarts: a program that wins with discipline, shoots the lights out, graduates its players, and nearly shocked Villanova on the biggest stage. In a league of one-bid chaos, the Eagles have built the steadiest ship in the Patriot League — and the next trophy is always one March run away.
The academic identity is not a footnote — it's the program's foundation. American University is one of the nation's most selective institutions, and Simpkins has made the classroom a recruiting advantage rather than a constraint: back-to-back NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards, Patriot League Academic Honor Roll regulars, and Academic All-Patriot League selections in three straight years. The Eagles recruit players who want both — a real degree from a D.C. university and a real shot at March — and the championship proved the combination wins. In an era of college basketball defined by transactional roster-building, American's model is the counterargument: develop players, graduate them, and win anyway.