Edgar I. Farmer, Jr., is entering his 12th season at the helm of the Wofford women’s basketball program, and his 14th season on the staff overall.
Farmer joined the Wofford women’s basketball staff for the 2002-03 season, spending two years as an assistant coach before being hired as the head coach on July 20, 2004. Prior to Wofford, Farmer was an assistant coach for two years on the East Carolina women’s basketball staff. His other coaching experiences include being an assistant coach at the junior college level, as well as a head coach at the AAU level and for Planet Basketball.
In his 11 seasons as head coach, Farmer has helped revitalize a program that went 0-28 the year before he was hired. In 2007-08, Farmer led the Terriers to their first Southern Conference Tournament victory since 2002. A year later, the Terriers boasted one of the nation’s leading shot-blocking teams, while the 2005-06 squad led the nation in steals. Many Terriers have entered the Wofford record books and been awarded Southern Conference athletic and academic accolades under Farmer’s watch. In two of the last four seasons, Wofford has earned a first-round victory at the Southern Conference Tournament.
Most recently in the 2014-15 season, Farmer improved the teams’ record from the previous season to 8-22. Guard Jordan Frazier led the SoCon in steals for the second year in a row with 74, and was fourth in the SoCon with 14.8 ppg under Farmer’s guidance. Forward Ashton Fleming finished fifth in the SoCon with five double-doubles and sixth in the SoCon in rebounding as well, averaging 7.3 rebounds per game.
In 2013-14, Farmer led the Terriers to a 6-23 mark, while coaching guard Jordan Frazier to an 83 steal season. Frazier ranked fifth in the nation in steals, averaging 3.0 per game.
In 2012-13, Farmer and the Terriers finished with an 8-21 overall record, going 3-17 in Southern Conference play. The Terriers began the season 4-1, rattling off wins over Maine, UNC Asheville, Kennesaw State and North Carolina Central. Later on in the non-conference slate, Wofford traveled to Tuscaloosa and took down Alabama, 58-52, marking another key victory under Farmer’s watch. In the conference tournament, Wofford nearly came back to defeat Samford, suffering a four-point loss in the first round, 59-55, after trailing by 11 and cutting the lead to just one point.
In 2011-12, Farmer led the Terriers to a 13-18 overall record and a 5-15 Southern Conference record. For the second straight season, the Terriers won their opening-round game in the SoCon Tournament, beating the College of Charleston, 64-53, before falling to Davidson, 69-58, in the quarterfinals. Farmer saw his Terriers jump out to a 6-0 start to open the 2011-12 season, setting a new school record for wins to open a season. Rachel Brittenham set a school record with 161 assists, breaking her own school record from the 2010-11 season. Morgan Wrightson made the SoCon All-Tournament Team for her performance in the tournament.
In the 2010-11 season, Farmer led the Terriers to an opening round win over UNC Greensboro in the Southern Conference tournament. Rachel Brittenham toppled the single-season assists record with 160 assists, and playing in her last game as a Terrier, Mahagony Williams grabbed a school record 19 rebounds and scored 18 points to set a new school record with 28 career double-doubles. Williams finished her career as the eighth leading scorer all-time with 1,195 points and second all-time with 904 rebounds. She is only the second Terrier all-time to eclipse the 900-rebound mark. She is also only the second player all-time with over 1,000 points and over 900 rebounds. Farmer also saw the emergence of post player April Moorhouse as she scored 352 points setting a personal single season best, including a new career-high 23 points against the College of Charleston.
In 2009-10, his team finished in the top ten in four Wofford team statistical categories. His team entered the record books in three point field goal attempted, three point field goals made, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, total rebounds and blocked shots. They also finished in the top five in the Southern Conference in four categories. Kelly Dwyer finished first in the conference in steals, and Mahagony Williams was third in field goal percentage and fifth in rebounding. Nationally the team finished 76th in blocked shots per game. Dwyer also finished 42nd in steals per game nationally.
In 2008-09, Farmer coached the team to highs in several statistical categories in both the Southern Conference and on the national scene. The Terriers finished 2008-09 as the Southern Conference leader in both blocked shots and steals. Among NCAA Division I schools, Wofford ranked 11th in blocked shots and 26th in steals at the end of the 2008-09 season.
2008-09 also saw the Terriers set a new Southern Conference record for blocks in a single game with 14 against Furman on February 7. The previous league record of 13 blocks was set by Marshall against Youngstown State during the 1988-89 season.
In the 2007-2008 season, Farmer helped lead Wofford to its first win in the Southern Conference Tournament since 2002 when it defeated rival Furman during the opening round. Then-junior Liz Miller was selected to the second team all-tournament squad following the two-game run in the SoCon Tournament by the Terriers.
Farmer was also on the bench when Mahagony Williams was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year in 2007-08 by both the league’s head coaches and the Southern Conference Sports Media Association. She became the first player in school history to garner the honor. Williams was also tabbed to the league’s all-freshman team, becoming the first Wofford player under Farmer’s watch to receive postseason accolades from the Southern Conference.
Under his coaching, Wofford has never been afraid to face a challenging schedule. In 2009-10, the Terriers faced Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Kentucky out of conference and came within 10 points of defeating UK on the road in January. A year earlier, Wofford nearly upset Wake Forest, falling by just two to the Demon Deacons. In the 2015-16 season, Wofford faced challenges at Minnesota and Virginia Tech.
Farmer guided the Terriers to their best record in five seasons in 2006-07, capping the campaign with an opening-round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament as the No. 6 seed. Wofford completed the year with a 13-16 record, including a 7-11 mark in league action, which included season sweeps over College of Charleston, Elon and Appalachian State. The Terriers also scored a thrilling 68-65 home overtime triumph against perennial league stronghold Davidson on Senior Day. Jennifer Weurding was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week during the final week of the regular season, becoming just the third Wofford player to garner the accolade in school history. Kelsi Koenig was named to the 2006-07 preseason all-league squad as voted upon by the Southern Conference Sports Media Association.
The Newport News, Va., native helped the Terriers rank No. 1 nationally during 2005-06 in steals per game, topping such national programs as North Carolina, Duke, Georgia and LSU. Wofford led the country in the statistical category much of the season and also finished third nationally in total steals, ranking only behind North Carolina and Duke despite playing in fewer games.
In 2005-06, the team broke several school and individual records, Weurding becoming the school’s all-time leader in blocked shots with 172. Weurding concluded her career with 253, 32 more than the next closest on the career Southern Conference list.
With the 65-46 season-opening win over Coker Nov. 19, 2004, Farmer became just the second head coach in Terrier history to earn a victory in his or her debut.
He previously spent two seasons as a Terrier assistant, in 2002-03 and 2003-04. He was involved in all aspects of the game, including recruiting, individual and team development and on-court coaching.
Farmer came to Wofford after working two years as an assistant coach at East Carolina. While with the Lady Pirates, Farmer served as the summer camp director and community service coordinator. He was also given the tasks of opponent scouting, film exchange, on-campus recruiting and unofficial visits and pre and postseason workout development with the trainers and strength staff.
He served as the head coach of a women’s basketball select team for Planet Basketball that competed in Finland and Poland in August 2001.
Farmer was also an assistant men’s basketball coach at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College. He served as an adjunct professor and as a faculty advisor during his stay in Miami, Okla.
He coached the AAU Garner Flames, including stints with the 14, 15 and 16-under age groups as an assistant coach and then as the head coach for the 17-under squad.
During the summer months of 1997, Farmer interned with Pro Management Plus, which enabled him to maintain the director’s role for the NBA camps of Allan Houston and John Starks.
The Newport News, Va., native is a 1994 graduate of the University of North Carolina. While in Chapel Hill, he was a member of the junior varsity men’s basketball team. After graduating, he was an assistant coach under Randy Wiel for the Tar Heel junior varsity squad.
In 1993-94, he was the audio-visual technical coordinator for the national champion North Carolina women’s basketball team. Farmer filmed practices and games and assisted in the film breakdown.
Farmer and his wife, Tara, were married in July of 2011 and reside in Spartanburg. They have two daughters, Kalan and Kieryn.
