Texas men's basketball presents revamped coaching staff
Rodney Terry’s revamped coaching staff for the men’s basketball team will look very familiar, especially for longtime Longhorns fans.
Texas presented its staff for the 2023-24 school year Tuesday, which includes holdovers Steve McClain, Chris Ogden, Brandon Chappell and newcomer Frank Haith. Veteran coach Bob Donewald Jr. has left the program after two years.
Haith’s impending hire was reported in April but wasn't officially announced by UT until this week.
Haith may be new to Terry’s staff, but the longtime collegiate coach provides a wealth of experience as well as lots of familiarity with UT and the state’s recruiting scene. He coached alongside Terry as an assistant at UT from 2002 to 2004 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, Haith played a major role in recruiting future NBA players P.J. Tucker, LaMarcus Aldridge and Daniel Gibson.
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Haith has a record of 343-247 as a head coach and has 34 years of experience on the bench. He spent the 2022-23 season as an assistant at Memphis.
McClain moves into an assistant role after serving as special assistant to the head coach last season. He brings 41 years of coaching experience to the staff, including 14 combined seasons as a head coach at Wyoming and Illinois-Chicago. Prior to coming to Austin before the 2022-23 season, he worked for two years (2020-22) as an assistant under Tom Crean at Georgia. Known for his defensive acumen, McClain will likely resume his role of focusing on defense for Texas.
Chappell begins his second season as a Longhorns assistant. He has 10 years of coaching experience, including stints at UNLV, Lamar, Arkansas-Fort Smith, Northern Arizona and Armstrong State in Georgia. A Beaumont native who played for his hometown college of Lamar, Chappell helped Ozen High School reach the 2001 Class 4A state title game.
Ogden moves back off the bench and into the role as the program’s general manager after serving as an assistant in an interim role this past season following the firing of former head coach Chris Beard. A former Texas player and assistant coach who spent three years as the head coach at UT-Arlington, Ogden will begin his 15th year on the UT staff. He had previously served as the program’s managing director before assuming his assistant's duties last season.
The reshuffling of the coaching staff follows a tumultuous offseason for Texas. Terry had his interim coaching tag removed in March after leading the Longhorns to a 29-9 record and a spot in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. He signed a five-year, $15.3 million contract on March 27 and immediately began reconstructing his team’s roster.
The Longhorns lost several key players to graduation and the transfer portal as well as both of their 2023 recruits in Ron Holland and A.J. Johnson. Terry rebounded by signing four players in the portal and welcoming back two players — guard Tyrese Hunter and forward Dillon Mitchell — who had declared for the NBA draft.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas men's basketball team presents revamped coaching staff
