Men's Basketball

Jason Ludwig is in his seventh season as an assistant coach for Santa Clara men's basketball.

Ludwig came to Santa Clara for the second time in April 2016, after spending 2015-16 as the director of basketball operations at Mississippi State under head coach Ben Howland. Prior to that, he was in the same role for two years at Arizona State under current Bronco head coach Herb Sendek. While at Arizona State, Ludwig was a part of teams that reached the postseason twice, including the NCAA Tournament in 2013-14 and NIT in 2014-15.

In his first six seasons at Santa Clara, Ludwig has helped the program to five winning records and coached 11 all-conference players, including current forward Keshawn Justice.

Ludwig has primarily been responsible for recruiting Europe, South America and Canada in addition to the United States.

In 2021-22, Ludwig helped the Broncos reach the postseason for the first time since 2012-13. The Broncos posted 21 wins for their second 20-win campaign in the last three seasons, the first time that the program has achieved that since 2010-11 through 2012-13, en route to being selected to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for just the fifth-time in program history. The historic year saw Santa Clara pick up their first win over a ranked opponent since 2004 (over No. 22 Saint Mary's) and first win over BYU since 2017 as three players were selected to All-WCC squad. Jalen Williams and Josip Vrankic were first team selections while Keshawn Justice was a second team pick. Williams in particular had a season to remember, becoming the first Bronco since 2016-17 to earn all-region honors after finishing as the WCC's second-leading scorer at 18.0 ppg. Santa Clara's 10 wins in league play were their most since Herb Sendek's first season in 2016-17. The Broncos finished the year ranked 11th nationally in field goal percentage (48.4) and 16th in 3-point shooting percentage (37.8). 

Ludwig was the lead recruiter for Jalen Williams, who in addition to being a first team all-league player would go on to be selected 12th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder, becoming Santa Clara's highest draft pick of the modern era and second-highest pick of all time. He was Santa Clara's first draft pick since 1996 when Steve Nash was picked 15th overall.

In 2019-20, Ludwig helped coach a team that reached the 20-win mark for only the third time in the last 12 years. In addition, the team got off to one of the best starts in school history at 14-2 despite navigating key injuries and not having a senior on the roster.

Ludwig spent 10 years at UCLA in various roles during two different stints, between 2001-07 and 2009-13.

Between 2001-05 Ludwig was a student manager for the Bruins and a part of teams that made that NCAA Tournament twice in 2001-02 (Sweet Sixteen) and 2004-05.

Starting in 2005-06 he was elevated to assistant video coordinator. During those two seasons with the Bruins they went to back to back Final Four appearances including the national title game in 2005-06. Ludwig had the opportunity to work with future NBA players Russell Westbrook, Arron Afflalo, Darren Collison, Jordan Farmar, Ryan Hollins, Dijon Thompson, Cedric Bozeman and Luc Mbah a Moute.

Ludwig spent the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons at Santa Clara. He held the title of video coordinator in his first season before being promoted to director of operations his second season.

In August of 2009, he returned to UCLA as the director of scouting and player development where he spent the next four years helping the Bruins to two NCAA Tournament appearances and the 2012-13 Pac-12 regular season championship. During this stint he participated in the development of future NBA players Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson, Norman Powell, Larry Drew II, Travis Wear, Jordan Adams, Malcolm Lee, and Tyler Honeycutt. In addition, he directed the UCLA and Ben Howland basketball camps

During the summer of 2007, Ludwig coached the adidas AAU powerhouse Double Pump Elite out of Los Angeles. Every player on the roster played Division 1 basketball including future NBA All-Stars Paul George and Klay Thompson.

His passions off the court extend to assisting coaches and underprivileged youth.

Ludwig co-founded the Coaches Social at the Final Four, an event geared towards networking hundreds of coaches across the nation. It has become one of the premier events at the Final Four each year.

Ludwig is president and founder of the Latino Association of Basketball Coaches, which provides support, education and networking opportunities to Latino coaches of all levels worldwide.

In 2005, Ludwig created JL Hoops Camp, which was created to give youth from low socio-economic environments a free basketball camp. The camp is run in his hometown of Montebello (East Los Angeles) and gives kids an opportunity to understand the game from knowledgeable coaches, hear from guest speakers and learn life lessons.

Ludwig received his undergraduate economics degree from UCLA in 2005.

Ludwig played varsity basketball and baseball for Montebello High School. He was named MVP during his junior and senior basketball seasons while leading the team to its first league championship in 30 years.