April 19, 2006
ORLANDO - UCF associate head coach Tom Schuberth was named the 13th head men's basketball coach at Texas-Pan American on Tuesday. Schuberth recently completed his fourth season on Kirk Speraw's staff at UCF.
Schuberth will officially be introduced as the program's head coach at a press conference on Friday.
UTPA is a Division I independent program, but next season will partner with five other independent institutions to form the United Basketball Conference. The school is located in Edinburg, near the Texas-Mexico border in the southeast portion of the state. Schuberth replaces Robert Davenport at UTPA. Davenport coached the Broncs for two seasons.
"We appreciate Tom's efforts here at UCF and wish him well in his new endeavor as head basketball coach at UTPA," said Speraw. "He is well deserving of this opportunity to be a head coach and he will do an outstanding job. This makes a great statement about how far our program has evolved in that one of our assistant coaches has been named a head coach at another Division I institution."
During Schuberth's tenure at UCF, the Golden Knights made two trips to the NCAA Tournament. UCF recorded 84 victories with Schuberth on the staff. He arrived at UCF prior to the 2002-03 campaign and in his first season with the team, the Golden Knights won 21 contests and advanced to the Atlantic Sun Championship title game.
In 2003-04, the Golden Knights had their best year at the Division I level, going 25-6 and winning the A-Sun Championship to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996. Before the 2004-05 campaign, Schuberth was promoted to associate head coach. That season, the squad went 24-9 and repeated as A-Sun champions to garner another trip to the postseason.
"I really appreciate the opportunity that Coach Speraw and director of athletics Steve Orsini have given me at UCF. I will miss Coach Speraw, the entire staff and players immensely," said Schuberth. "I have really enjoyed my time at UCF and I will be following the program as it continues its success in Conference USA. The success that we have had at UCF, plus having the chance to work with and learn from Coach Speraw, provided me with the opportunity to become a head coach and I am very grateful for that."
UTPA will serve as Schuberth's first head coaching job. Schuberth just completed his 24th season as an assistant and has previous coaching experience at UAB, Southeast Missouri State, Memphis, Louisiana-Monroe and North Alabama. He has helped guide 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament.
The Chicago native is a 1980 graduate of Mississippi State. During his collegiate career, he was recognized as an honorable mention Academic All-America selection.