Fresno State Athletics
Terry Unveils Coaching Staff
5/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
May 10, 2011
FRESNO, Calif. - Among the most important tasks for any new head coach is putting together a good staff and Fresno State men's basketball coach Rodney Terry has done just that.
Terry announced Tuesday the selections of Jerry Wainwright, Byron Jones and Michael Schwartz as his assistant coaches for the basketball program. The trio brings a unique collection of experiences to the Central Valley.
All three coaches come in with years of valuable coaching experience, especially Wainwright who has been a coach at the high school and college level for almost 30 years. Each coach has helped lead teams to postseason play and proven to be both successful recruiters and teachers of the game.
"I'm proud to be working with such an expert staff that has worked at the highest level and been successful in and building winning programs," said Terry.
With 16 years of college head coaching under his belt, Coach Wainwright comes to the Bulldogs with significant experience to help Rodney Terry build a solid foundation for the basketball program. His last stop was a five year stretch on the sidelines at DePaul as head coach. During his collegiate tenure, Wainwright has taken his teams to seven postseason tournaments including three NCAA berths and four NIT appearances.
Wainwright helped engineer the program's best start ever in conference play during the 2007-08 season, and, for the third straight season in his tenure with the Blue Demons, DePaul posted at least one victory over a Top 25 team.
In 2006-07, his second season at DePaul, Wainwright reached a career milestone by recording his 200th win as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level. His squad that season earned a bid to the NIT and made the program's deepest postseason tournament run since 1990, reaching the quarterfinals after thrilling wins over Hofstra and at Kansas State. Individually, Sammy Mejia and Wilson Chandler were both named second team All-BIG EAST Conference. Both Chandler (first round) and Mejia (second round) were drafted by the NBA.
Before joining DePaul, Wainwright spent three seasons as the head coach of Richmond, establishing the Spiders on the national stage as several team and individual accomplishments highlighted his tenure with the Atlantic 10 school.
In 2003-04, Wainwright led Richmond to the NCAA Tournament, earning the program's second-ever at-large berth behind the nation's ninth-ranked defense. Along with the NCAA bid, a win at 10th-ranked Kansas sandwiched between road victories at Temple and Xavier were milestones of the season. After a spirited run through the A-10 Tournament, Wainwright's crew was rewarded for its tough schedule with an NCAA selection. The Spiders fell to Wisconsin, 76-64, in the opening round at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
In Wainwright's first season with the Spiders, he used a nationally-ranked defense to post 16 wins and a berth to the NIT where they fell at Providence in the opening round.
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"It's my honor to be reunited with my mentor, who I believe is one of the greatest teachers of the game of basketball."
Terry said about former head coach Jerry Wainwright
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During his tenure, the team captured three regular season Colonial Athletic Association titles and two CAA tournament crowns. The Seahawks averaged nearly 17 wins per season under his tutelage and were ranked nationally in team defense each campaign.
A year after taking over the UNCW program in 1994, Wainwright had built the seventh best schedule in the country. The Seahawks suffocating defense was ranked fifth in the nation in 1995-96, allowing just 58.4 points per game.
Wainwright orchestrated one of the most memorable campaigns in UNCW history during the 1999-00 season when the Seahawks grabbed their first CAA Championship, a 57-47 win over Richmond, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
In 2000-01, Wainwright earned CAA Coach of the Year honors for the second time. The Seahawks posted their most impressive season ever in 2001-02, compiling a 22-9 mark, capturing the conference crown outright for the second straight season and advancing to their second NCAA Tournament. His team, again, finished among the nation's best in team defense, ranked 17th in the country.
Wainwright himself touched every step on his ascent towards the top of the coaching ladder. Prior to arriving at Wilmington, he spent nine years as an assistant coach at Wake Forest. Under Bob Staak (1986-89) and Dave Odom (1989-94), he helped rebuild the Demon Deacons' program.
In Winston-Salem, Wainwright helped Wake Forest collect a school-record four straight NCAA Tournament berths and register back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in a decade. Besides on-the-court coaching, he assisted in recruiting NBA draft picks Chris King (Seattle), Rodney Rogers (Denver), Randolph Childress (Detroit) and Tim Duncan (San Antonio). He broke into the college coaching ranks in 1984-85 serving a one-year stint at Xavier under Staak.
A 1968 graduate of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo. with a B.A degree, Wainwright earned his graduate degree from the University of Denver.
Wainwright began his coaching career in the prep ranks first at Montrose High School in Denver where he led his team to the state tournament and was named Colorado District Coach of the Year in 1975. He returned to his native state, Illinois, as an assistant coach at East Leyden High School in suburban Chicago. While there, he helped teams compile an amazing 104-4 four-year record. Wainwright also coached at Chicago's Highland Park High School, directing his team to the state's "Sweet 16" in 1982. He was named state district Coach of the Year his last two seasons.
A native of Berwyn, Ill., Wainwright is married to the former Debbie Tedesco. Wainwright has two sons, Brett and Scott. In addition, he is the grandfather of three, Alexis, Brett and Gracie.
"It's my honor to be reunited with my mentor, Jerry Wainwright, who I believe is one of the greatest teachers of the game of basketball," Terry said.
Jones comes to the Valley via Winston-Salem State University where he was an assistant coach for the 2010-11 season. He helped lead the program to a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Southern Division Title and a berth in the 2011 NCAA Division II Tournament. The Rams also went undefeated in their non-conference schedule en route to a 19 win season, the most in the past six seasons.
Prior to joining the Winston-Salem State coaching staff, Jones spent four years as the Director of Basketball Operations at Premiere Basketball, Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri and head boys coach at Saint Mary's High School in Independence, Mo. It was at Saint Mary's that Jones led the team to its best finish in 10 years, and with K.C. Premiere Basketball, he sent over 50 athletes to play collegiate basketball.
His last collegiate coaching experience came at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington where he helped guide the Seahawks to an 83-40 record over a four-year period with the program and helping to guide the team to a pair of Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) titles and two appearances in the NCAA tournament. Using his strong recruiting ties, Jones helped bring some of the top players in the history of UNC-Wilmington basketball into the program, including guard T.J. Carter and Vladimir Kuljanin. Both players took home All-CAA honors during their careers.
Jones' collegiate coaching career has also included stints at the University of Denver, Eastern Kentucky, and Central Oklahoma. During his tenure at the University of Denver, Jones helped elevate the program from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I. Also a leader in building stars in the classroom, Jones helped the University of Denver men's basketball become one of the top academic programs in the Sun Belt Conference. Before heading to the University of Denver, he spent two seasons as an assistant at Eastern Kentucky and helped land two of the top recruiting classes in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Central Oklahoma where he spent two seasons with the Broncos and helped guide the team to a top 20 finish and a bid to the 1995 NCAA Division II Tournament.
As a player, Jones spent one season at Eastern Kentucky after starting off at Northern Oklahoma College. He was a member of the EKU team that advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) championship game in 1990. During his career at Northern Oklahoma College, he helped lead the team to a 24-8 record and a Bi-State West Conference title, taking home first team All-Conference and Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Jones enjoyed a stellar career at Ulysses S. Grant High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A four-year letter winner, Jones was named the Oklahoma City Player of the Year and earned first team All-State honors following his senior season. During his high school career, Jones was also named to the Oklahoma Rams Junior Olympics national championship team alongside future NBA players Richard Dumas, Byron Houston and Brent Price.
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"I'm proud to be working with such an expert staff that has worked at the highest level and been successful in and building winning programs"
Terry remarked about his coaching staff
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"Byron Jones brings a tireless work ethic and wining background at every level of basketball," said Terry.
Michael Schwartz
Schwartz spent four seasons as an assistant coach and sixth season overall as a member of the University of Miami (Fla.) men's basketball program.Last season, Schwartz was instrumental in helping Miami post its third 20-win season in the last four years - and just the sixth time since the return of the program in 1985-86, with the Hurricanes going 21-15.
In his time as an assistant at Miami, Schwartz helped lead the Hurricanes to an overall record of 83-52 and three postseason appearances, making it to the NCAA second his first year and the NIT quarterfinals this past season.Schwartz was instrumental in helping Miami make one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in 2007-08 when they posted the second-most wins in program history (23), including a school-record 14 wins at home and a program-best fifth-place finish in the ACC. The Canes broke into the Top 25 during his first three years as an assistant.
Prior to becoming an assistant coach, Schwartz served as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations at Miami. In that capacity, he handled video operations, including film breakdown and opponent scouting, supervised recruiting mail outs and served as a liaison with the team's managerial staff.
Schwartz joined the Hurricane staff in 2005 after one season as an assistant coach at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he helped guide the Roadrunners to a 15-13 overall record, including a 10-6 mark in Southland Conference play.
Before joining the staff at UT San Antonio, Schwartz served as the men's basketball video coordinator at the University of Texas for two seasons (2002-04). Schwartz played basketball at Texas in 1998-99 and was a member of the Longhorns' Big XII championship team.
Schwartz graduated from Texas in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication studies, and served as a graduate assistant at Texas from 1999 until 2001.
He left Texas in 2001-02 to join the men's basketball staff at Long Beach State University. However, he returned to Texas as video coordinator in 2002 and was part of the Longhorns' run to the NCAA Final Four in 2003 and the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2004.
Schwartz also gained experience with USA Basketball as a support staff member for the 2001 Young Men's World Championship Trials, the 2000 USA National Select Team -- coached by Mike Jarvis and Bob Huggins -- and the 2000 USA Youth Development Festival.
A native of Beverly Hills, Calif., Schwartz played collegiate basketball at Sonoma State University (1994-96) before finishing his career at the University of Texas. Schwartz is married to the former Stephanie Chrisman and together they have two daughters, Sydney and Samantha.
"Mike Schwartz is a young and up and coming coach who coached with successful programs at the highest level," said Terry.
"We Are You're Team!" With the completion of the coaching staff, Terry is focusing on recruiting student-athletes for the 2011-12 season and beyond. He expects to announce the signing of several new members of the program in the coming days.
