Chris Faulkner enters his 11th year as the head men’s basketball coach at the University of North Georgia. In his first ten seasons, Faulkner has accumulated a 143-145 record.

During the 2012-13 season, he led the Saints to a Peach Belt Conference semifinal matchup against top-seeded USC Aiken, where the Saints lost in overtime to the eventual conference champions.

He led the 2008-09 Saints basketball team to the quarterfinals of the Peach Belt Conference basketball tournament, with a record of 15-12, and a fifth place regular season finish.

In May 2003, Faulkner returned to his alma mater as head men’s basketball coach. His 2003-04 team produced the Georgia-Alabama-Carolina Conference Newcomer of the Year as well as an All-Freshman Team member.

In 2004-05, he led the Saints to a record breaking season as they finished second in the Southern States Athletic Conference with a 23-10 overall record. That team set new school records for points (3015), scoring average (91.4 ppg) and conference wins (16). It also marked the first time the men’s basketball team had won 20 or more games since the 1995-96 season. In addition, he coached the conference Player-of-the-Year and NAIA All-American as well as two NAIA Academic All-Americans.

In 1997, Faulkner was named head basketball coach at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. He led the basketball program during the transitional period from NAIA to NCAA Division III and into the newly formed Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC). After finishing the 2002-03 season with a tenure-best 17-10 record and GSAC tournament runner-up, Faulkner was named the GSAC Coach of the Year. In addition to his basketball duties, he also served as head of the men’s and women’s golf teams. Faulkner’s teams have produced eight All-Conference players, one All-American, and numerous Academic All-Conference selections.

Faulkner is a 1993 graduate of North Georgia College where he received a B.S. in physical education and a M.Ed. in education in 1995. He played four years of collegiate basketball at North Georgia (1989-1993) and served as the team captain during the 1992-93 season. He also participated in international summer play in Costa Rica and Spain and was a recipient of the Will D. Young Scholarship.
   
After finishing his playing career at North Georgia, he assumed the role of assistant coach in 1993, a role he held for four seasons under former head coach and Athletic Director Randy Dunn. In 1996, Faulkner helped Dunn lead the team to the Conference championship and the program’s third appearance at the NAIA National Tournament.      

Coach Faulkner and his wife, Daphney, reside in Dahlonega with their two sons, Gus and Cal.