Chris Markwood has been the head coach of the University of Maine men's basketball team in Orono, Maine, since March 21, 2022. A Maine alumnus and former Black Bears player, he returned to lead the program after more than a decade as an assistant coach at Division I schools across the Northeast.
Markwood's tenure at Maine has included a series of notable program milestones. In 2024-25, his third season, the Black Bears finished 20-14, posted a 10-6 record in America East play, and reached the America East Tournament championship game. The 20 wins matched the program's highest single-season total in 25 years, and the team recorded only its second winning season in 21 years. That season also produced All-America East second-team selections for Kellen Tynes and AJ Lopez, with Tynes earning a third straight Defensive Player of the Year award to tie the conference record. In 2023-24, Maine went 15-17 and finished the year ranked among the top 60 defenses in the NCAA. Tynes repeated as Defensive Player of the Year and earned all-conference honors again, while Peter Filipovity gave Markwood his first all-conference second-team selection at Maine. In his first full season, the Black Bears won 13 games, their highest total since 2010-11, reached the America East Championships, and produced the first America East Defensive Player of the Year in program history in Tynes. Tynes and Gedi Juozapaitis both received all-conference recognition that season.
