New Bball coaches

[dbetz23]

per Huskers.com

 

Lincoln --- Nebraska men’s basketball coach Doc Sadler began forming the nucleus of his first Husker staff as he announced Wednesday that Tony Benford and Philip Mathews have been hired as assistant coaches.

 

Benford has a history of successful coaching stops, most recently at Arizona State where he spent the past eight seasons before joining Sadler at Texas-El Paso in July and then following him to Nebraska. Mathews is a veteran head coach with a winning background, including nine years at Division I level (San Francisco) and 12 seasons at the junior college level (Ventura College, San Bernardino Valley College).

 

“I’m glad to have Tony and Phil join our program and I think the fans should be excited to have people on our staff with the energy and talent -- both in recruiting and developing players – that they bring,” Sadler said.

 

Sadler and Benford have a long-standing friendship that dates back to their time at Texas Tech. Sadler served three years as an assistant coach for the Red Raiders, recruiting several players that helped TTU to a conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 1993. Benford returned to the Lubbock, Texas, school to complete his degree in 1992, after finishing his playing career at Tech in 1986.

 

“It’s an honor to get a chance to work at such a great university like Nebraska and to work with one of the top coaches in the country in Doc Sadler,” Benford said. “With the tradition at Nebraska, the outstanding fan support for all the programs and playing in the Big 12 Conference, this could be a special place for basketball. I look forward to being able to help Coach Sadler and Nebraska work toward a Big 12 title and NCAA Tournament appearances.”

 

During his playing days, Benford helped Texas Tech to two Southwest Conference Tournament titles (1985, 1986) and the SWC regular-season championship in 1985. He was an all-conference pick as a senior and was the league tournament most valuable player.

 

Benford joined Sadler earlier this summer in July at Texas-El Paso after spending the last eight seasons at Arizona State (1999 to 2006), including serving his final two seasons in Tempe as associate head coach. Benford recruited Pac-10 Players of the Year Ike Diogu (2005) and Eddie House (2000) to Arizona State, and also brought in all-freshman team performer Jeff Pendergraph in 2006. During his time with the Sun Devils, Benford helped the team to four postseason appearances, including a spot in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament.

 

Before joining the ASU staff, Benford spent six seasons as an assistant coach at New Mexico (1993 to 1998). He helped New Mexico to five NCAA Tournament bids while winning 73.2 percent of their games. NMU picked up a pair of Western Athletic Conference tournament titles (1993 and 1996) and a regular-season championship (1994) with Benford on the sideline.

 

Benford started his career coaching youth teams, spending four years at All Saints School in Lubbock, Texas, where he guided the junior high squad.

 

A native of Hobbs, N.M., Benford was a 1986 fourth-round NBA Draft selection by the Boston Celtics. He played professionally in Holland during the 1986-87 season.

 

As a prep all-star, Benford was a Converse All-American and the New Mexico Player of the Year after pouring in 27.5 points per game as a senior. He led Hobbs to the state title in his final season, earning MVP honors of the state championship tournament after posting 29 points in the title game.

 

Benford and his wife, Deborah, have two daughters, Audriana (17) and Milena (9) and one son, Tony Jr. (14). Benford also has a son, Jeremy (24).

 

Also officially joining the staff this week is Mathews, who, like Sadler, honed his skills at the junior college. Mathews compiled a combined 349-73 record in 12 years as head coach at the junior college level and his squads won a conference title 11 times during his tenure.

 

Mathews’ first stint as head coach at the junior college level came at Ventura College, where he spent 10 seasons (1986-95) compiling a 298-56 record. His teams won 10 straight Western States Conference titles. Before his arrival, Ventura had not won a league championship in 17 seasons.

 

All but one of his teams earned at least 20 victories and six times – including each of his last five years in charge – his teams won at least 30 contests. During the 1995 campaign, Ventura went 37-1 and ranked second nationally while winning the second California state junior college title under Mathews. Eleven players recruited to Ventura for that season earned Division I scholarships.

 

”The opportunity to come to the University of Nebraska and work here with this staff and these players is a great thrill for me,” Mathews said. “It’s an outstanding university and a tremendous opportunity to work with a great coach like Doc Sadler. He’s someone I’ve known for a long time, followed his teams, and he has recruited my guys (from junior college). It’s an honor for me to be here.”

 

Mathews took over the Dons program in time for the 1995-96 season and won at least 16 games in each of his first three years. Among the early highlights was the 1998 campaign when his squad posted a 19-11 mark that led to San Francisco’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1982.

 

Two years later, Mathews again led SFU to another 19-win season. Two of his last three squads posted winning overall records and all three finished in the top four in the West Coast Conference standings. He finished his career with a 139-123 record in nine seasons at San Francisco.

 

The past two seasons, Mathews was the head coach at San Bernardino Valley College, where he helped the Wolverines to a 51-17 record. In his first season in 2005, San Bernardino went 27-5 and won the conference title with a 13-1 record. That first team saw every player move on to a four year school with a scholarship.

 

Mathews entered the coaching ranks as an assistant at UC Irvine for the 1973 season. He spent the next year at the high school level before returning to Irvine for four years (1975-78). Mathews then returned as head coach at Santa Ana Valley High School, where he won two league titles in three years.

 

Following the 1981 campaign, Mathews returned to the college level where he was an assistant for four years at Cal State Fullerton (1982-85) before taking over the reins at Ventura College.

 

A 1970 graduate and two-year basketball letterwinner at UC Irvine, Mathews is married to the former Margie Holland and has four children, Sabrina (36), Akilah (29), Jordan (12) and Jonah (8).

[gamecocks]

Sounds like we have some quality coaches on the bench that have been with some winning programs over the past several years.