FULTON, Mo. - After guiding Owls men's basketball to two of their best seasons in program history, Jordan Ashton has officially departed William Woods University to take the head coaching position at NCAA Division II Purdue University Northwest in Hammond, Indiana. WWU wishes Ashton the best of luck as he continues his upward trajectory with an already impressive résumé in his first three years as a men's college basketball head coach.

During Ashton's first three years as a college head coach, he's led two programs, William Woods and the now-defunct NAIA program Iowa Wesleyan University, to their winningest seasons in program history - the Owls in their 18th and most recent campaign in 2024-25, and the Tigers in their 115th and final year (Ashton's first year as a head coach) in 2022-23. Those accomplishments earned Ashton the 2024-25 American Midwest Conference Coach of the Year and the 2022-23 Continental Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. 

Ashton's teams have made the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 in two of three seasons, won two conference tournaments (CAC in 2022-23 and AMC in 2024-25), qualified for the NAIA National Championship twice and had two winning streaks of at least 20 games in two campaigns - all these feats took place in 2022-23 and 2024-25. He's also coached two All-Americans with him at The Woods and Iowa Wesleyan: Henry Shannon III (honorable mention for IWU in 2022-23) and Francis Okwuosah (third team for WWU in 2024-25).

Officially named the fifth coach in William Woods men's hoops history on April 28, 2023, Ashton's Owls went 41-19 overall and 27-5 in the AMC - WWU forfeited seven nonconference games that were initially wins in 2023-24 - and won their first-ever AMC regular season and tournament titles in 2024-25. Woods also won its most and lost its fewest contests overall and in the AMC in 2024-25 at 29-3 overall and 17-1 in the AMC, while going on a program-record 24-game winning streak (six-game winning streak twice was previous best - Ashton notched the second in 2023-24) that ended with its season-ending defeat to No. 19 Keiser University in the NAIA National Championship second round after making the Owls' first national tournament appearance and win with their 110-62 rout of Dillard Unversity in the first round.

While putting together that historic stretch in 2024-25, Ashton's William Woods team made the NAIA Top 25 for the first time and ended the season with a program-best, current No. 9 ranking. In the process of doing that, the Owls topped the WWU leaderboard in 10 team records: Single-season total points (2,726), assists (551), rebounds (1,355), offensive rebounds (435), field-goal percentage (49.2%), 3-pointers made (317) and attempted (858) and free-throw percentage (75.8%) and single-game points (117) and tied 3-pointers made record, set for the first time in 2023-24 (19).

William Woods posted eight individual program-record-breaking or tying marks under Ashton's leadership: Nate Schwartze in career assists (329) and single-game 3-pointers made (eight), D'Mari Wiltz in single-season assists (211) and single-game assists (14), Lavel Harris in single-season steals (46) and single-game steals (six), Ty'Shon Pannell in single-game steals (six) and Kevin Taylor in single-game rebounds (20). When Taylor collected those 20 boards in WWU's 85-52 2024-25 AMC championship victory over No. 15 Central Baptist College, he broke the AMC Tournament single-game defensive rebound record with 15 and tied the single-game total rebound record.

In Ashton's two seasons full of milestones, the Owls received their first All-American honor in seven years, their fourth ever. They had one AMC Defensive Player of the Year, AMC Newcomer of the Year, four first-team All-AMC selections, one second-team All-AMC honoree, two third-team All-AMC picks, two honorable mention All-AMC recipients, three AMC all-defensive team selections, one AMC all-freshman team honoree, one AMC Tournament MVP and four AMC all-tournament picks.

In the classroom, Ashton's Woods squads earned one College Sports Communicators (CSC) All-District selection, five Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athlete honorees and 24 Academic All-AMC recipients.

"I want to thank Jordan and his staff for setting a new standard for William Woods men's basketball," William Woods Interim Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Casey Wieder said. "I'm excited for the next step in Jordan's career and for the future of Woods basketball."

The Owls embark on a national search for Ashton's replacement, ahead of their first season in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.