Ross James will begin his first year at Fordham as an assistant coach under Bridgette Mitchell in 2023-24.
 
"Ross is a phenomenal addition to my staff here at Fordham," Coach Mitchell said. "He has incredible leadership experience and will make an immediate impact with our program. Ross is someone that can help with all aspects of the program because he has head coach experience and is a relentless recruiter"
 
James most recently spent the 2022-23 season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Utah State. The year prior, he served as an assistant coach at Sacred Heart, where he recruited Ny'Ceara Pryor, the first freshman in NEC history to sweep Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. Pryor was named NEC Tournament MVP while leading the Pioneers to the conference title and recently was named ECAC First Team, All-Met Rookie of the Year, World Exposure Report Mid-Major Freshman of the Year, WER All-America Honorable Mention, and was most notably featured on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watch list. James also mentored Maiya Bergdorf, a NEC All-Rookie selection, and handled post development, recruiting, scheduling, scouting, and offensive strategy while in Fairfield.  
 
"I am honored and grateful to join the Ramily," said James. "This is an unbelievable opportunity to work with Coach Mitchell at a prestigious University with a history of winning and competing for championships. Coach Mitchell's knowledge of the game as well as her recruiting ties make this a home run opportunity. I look forward to getting started!"
 
From 2017-21, James spent four successful seasons as the head coach at Mary Baldwin University, where he took the Flying Squirrels to new heights, elevating the program from a two-win team to 2019-20 preseason favorites while setting 30 new program records, including breaking a 101-game conference losing streak in his first year and three straight USA South Tournament appearances. During his tenure, he oversaw three all-conference players (Jalen Gathers, Leah Calhoun, and Brooke Anders, all underclassmen) and one rookie of the year (Calhoun). As a result of his success, James was named USA South Coach of the Year and the D3 Hoops South Region Coach of the Year in 2019.
 
After beginning his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Texas Women's University from 2012-14, where he earned his Master's degree and coached one all-conference player and a freshman of the year, James made the move to Lafayette as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator until 2017. There, he developed and executed a recruiting strategy that attracted two McDonald's All-American nominees (Natalie Kucowski and Olivia Martino) and a 2017 All-Rookie selection (Olivia Gumbs), leading to a Blue Star Honorable Mention recruiting class (Top 60) in 2017, a first for the Leopards program.