Texas men's basketball coach Rodney Terry completes coaching staff for 2023-24 season
Texas men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry announced on Monday that he has finalized his staff for the 2023-24 season.
Cory Schlesinger has joined the program as its strength and conditioning coach after spending the past four seasons as the director of strength and conditioning for the Phoenix Suns. Officially an assistant coach and the director of basketball health and performance, Schlesinger brings 14 years of sports performance coaching at both the collegiate and professional levels.
He replaces John Reilly, who spent two seasons at Texas before reuniting with former Texas coach Chris Beard at Ole Miss.
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Terry also welcomes assistant coach Byron Jones, who worked for seven seasons with Terry at Fresno State and brings 25 years of coaching experience to the Texas staff. Jones spent the past three seasons as an assistant at Troy, where he helped the Trojans record back-to-back 20-win seasons. During his seven years in Terry’s head-coaching tenure at Fresno State from 2011-18, Jones helped turn the Bulldogs into a NCAA Tournament team that won at least 20 games in four of the last five years under Terry.
Jones replaces Bob Donewald Jr., who also rejoined Beard at Ole Miss after two seasons at Texas.
In addition, Terry named Nick Matson as the men’s basketball director of operations. Matson worked for 10 years previously with Terry at both Fresno State and UTEP and brings 13 years of collegiate coaching experience. He spent the 2022-23 season as an assistant at East Carolina and served five seasons as director of operations at Fresno State.
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Terry also announced the internal promotions of three individuals to his team’s support staff. Brock Berenato was elevated to the role of director of video and analytics, K.J. Conklin was promoted to director of player development, and Ty Larson was elevated to the role of director of recruiting.
In addition, Kat Stanley will work as a senior program administrator and Giles Gilliam, Jonathan Holmes and Tristen Licon will serve as graduate assistants.
Earlier this summer, Texas announced the hiring of Frank Haith as well as the return of assistants Steve McClain, Chris Ogden and Brandon Chappell.
Haith, who has a career record of 343-247 as a head coach, will serve as Terry’s lead assistant. He coached alongside Terry as an assistant at UT from 2002-04 before embarking on a career path that included head coaching stops at Miami (2004-11), Missouri (2011-14) and Tulsa (2014-22). During his time at Texas, he played a major role in recruiting future NBA players P.J. Tucker, LaMarcus Aldridge and Daniel Gibson.
McClain moves into an assistant's role after serving as special assistant to the head coach last season. He brings 41 years of coaching experience, including 14 combined seasons as a head coach at Wyoming and Illinois-Chicago. Known for his defensive acumen, McClain will likely resume his role of focusing on defense for Texas.
This past season, Texas went 29-9 and reached the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament despite turmoil on the bench. Beard was fired in January after a suspension following an arrest on a domestic violence charge, and the team rallied around Terry for its longest postseason run since 2008. Texas officials hired Terry on a full-time basis immediately after the end of the season.
The Longhorns lost key players such as All-Big 12 players Timmy Allen, Jabari Rice and Marcus Carr, but welcome back returners Tyrese Hunter, Dillon Mitchell and Brock Cunningham as well as several touted newcomers.
Texas will tip off its final season as a member of the Big 12 in November, but the official schedule has not yet been released. Along with Oklahoma, the Longhorns will join the SEC for the 2024-25 school year.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Rodney Terry announces new coaching hires for Texas men's basketball
