Farmer played high school basketball at Manual High School in Denver, Colorado, from 1966 to 1969. He nearly quit the sport as a sophomore, but, as a senior, he helped the Thunderbolts reach the state championship game and was named First Team Denver Post All-State. During his senior campaign he was named First Team All-City by Rocky Mountain News and First Team All-Metropolitan by Denver Post. Farmer was named First Team in three categories in two separate newspapers. In January 2017, Farmer was inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association's Hall of Fame.
College career
Farmer played at UCLA during the early 1970s under legendary coach John Wooden. He was a teammate of Bill Walton during the era when the Bruins won seven consecutive NCAA men's titles. He was the only player that participated in all the games for the UCLA teams that went 89–1, the best winning percentage in NCAA men's basketball history.
In 1985, Farmer became the head coach for Weber State University and was the successor to Neil McCarthy. Farmer coached Weber for three seasons and compiled a record of 34–54.
Loyola (Chicago) head basketball coach
Farmer coached at Loyola University Chicago from 1998 to 2004. Farmer had a 30–51 record over his first three seasons before finally breaking through in 2001. In that year, Farmer compiled a 17–13 record, 9–7 in the Horizon League. Farmer took the Ramblers to the brink of the NCAA Tournament before losing to rival University of Illinois Chicago. Farmer did not have much success after that and struggled through his last two seasons with the Ramblers.
Other coaching jobs
Farmer has also coached at the professional level serving as head coach of the Qadsia Sporting Club in Kuwait and as an assistant with the NBA's Golden State Warriors. He also served as a coach for the Kuwaiti National Team from 1992–97. His college coaching experience also includes a stint as an assistant at Rhode Island, where he helped the Rams reach the Elite Eight. He spent three years on the bench at the University of Hawai'i under Bob Nash from 2007–10. Farmer spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Western Michigan from 2010–12. In the 2012 season, Farmer was the director of player development for men's basketball at North Carolina State. Farmer and NC State head coach Mark Gottfried were both UCLA assistant coaches. He returned to the WMU staff for the 2013 season and retired after the 2017-18 season.