|
Beginning his third season as head men's basketball coach at Texas State, Doug Davalos looks for the Bobcats to continue the improvement they have shown during his first two seasons at the school.
With a history of turning around struggling programs both as an assistant and head coach, Davalos was named head coach on April 4, 2006, and inherited a program in total disarray. He quickly made some strides in his first recruiting class when he signed four of the Top 40 high school recruits in the State of Texas along with one of the most prolific scorers in junior college basketball history. On the court, Texas State tripled its win total from the previous season as the Bobcats finished the 2006-07 campaign with a 9-20 overall record and posted a 4-12 record in Southland Conference games.
Last season, Davalos added another three of the Top 40 high school players in the State of Texas, a junior college power forward and another four-year transfer who won Texas State's team award for the most consistent and outstanding effort while sitting out last season. On the court, the Bobcats were in contention to play in their first Southland Conference Tournament since 2005 until the final week of the regular season. Texas State improved its overall win total to 13, finishing 2007-08 with a 13-16 overall record. It is the first time that Texas State increased its win total in two straight years since 1999.
The Bobcats also finished the season ranked third nationally in scoring after averaging 83.6 points per game, cut their turnovers by an average of 1.2 per game and improved their field goal percentage defense from 50.7 percent to 47 percent.
Off the court, Texas State posted one of its best academic performances for a Bobcat basketball team in the history of the school last year.
In addition, each fall, the Bobcats visit and read books to elementary children in the San Marcos area as part of the NABC Reading Program that is sponsored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Davalos came to Texas State after he turned another school in the Texas State University System, Sul Ross State, into a perennial winner during his four seasons. He guided the Lobos to three straight American Southwest Conference West Division championships and four consecutive post-season appearances. In four years at the NCAA Division III school, Davalos' teams were 72-35 overall and 52-20 in the ASC.
His first Sul Ross State team (2002-03) posted the school's first winning season since 1979. At the time, it was the best record in school history at 19-6 overall and 12-2 in ASC play. Davalos was named the ASC West Division Coach of the Year.
The following year, the Lobos were 21-9 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The NCAA Tournament appearance was the school's first.
The 2004-05 team followed the ASC championship season with a 19-7 overall record and a third straight divisional title. Sul Ross State lost eight seniors off its 2005 team and had five freshmen see significant playing time during the 2005-06 season as the squad went 13-13 overall. The Lobos won six of their last seven regular-season games to secure the school's fourth straight post-season appearance.
At the press conference announcing his hire, Texas State president Denise M. Trauth said, "When we started our national search, we had four main criteria. The coach needed head coaching experience. He should know how to recruit in Texas. He had to have good character and impeccable integrity. And he had to have the proven ability to turn a program around. We found such a coach in Doug Davalos.
"I was impressed with his understanding that his players are students first and athletes second, which is a tough thing for some college coaches to come to grips with," Trauth added. "At Texas State, it is of high importance, and it is an expectation of all of our coaches."
"Doug has the ability to turn programs around and he did that at Sul Ross," said Texas State Director of Athletics Larry Teis. "In the 15 years before he got there, Sul Ross was 94-281. In his four years, they went 72-35. That is impressive and shows his ability to flat out coach."
Off the court while a member of the Big Bend community, Davalos established "Reading with the Lobos," an Accelerated Reader program for K-5 students at Alpine Elementary as well as the "Lobos vs. Cancer" fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society. He also served as an NCAA Division III Basketball Championship site representative.
Prior to being named the head coach at Sul Ross State, Davalos was an assistant for two years at Eastern New Mexico University where he assisted in the rebuilding of the Division II program. Davalos was part of a staff which inherited a program that was 3-23, but in two years had improved to 15-12 and qualified for the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the first time in five years.
Davalos recruited players to Eastern New Mexico who won back-to-back LSC South Division Championships in 2003 and 2004.
In addition to his collegiate experience, Davalos was the head coach for four years at Fort Stockton High School (1996-2000) where he had a combined 71-49 record and led the West Texas school to four straight winning seasons. His 1999-2000 team at Fort Stockton posted a 19-12 record and advanced to the Texas State playoffs for just the second time in 30 years.
Davalos' coaching career began as a student assistant coach at the University of Houston, and he was a graduate assistant coach at Auburn University at Montgomery where he had a variety of responsibilities including on-the-floor coaching, scouting, recruiting and academic advising.
He earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Houston in 1994 and was conferred a Master of Arts in Education from Auburn-Montgomery, in 1996. He is also a graduate of San Antonio's MacArthur High School where he was a member of the National Honor Society.
Davalos joined the Bobcat coaching staff with strong ties to the Texas State community.
He is the son of Texas State All-America point guard Rudy Davalos, who captained the 1960 Texas State team to an NAIA national championship. The senior Davalos retired as the Director of Athletics at the University of New Mexico and is a distinguished Texas State alumnus (2001). He was inducted into the San Antonio Spurs Hall of Fame in 2002.
Davalos and his wife Kim, a Texas State alumnus, have three daughters: Daylan, Danielle and Desiree.
|
||||||||||||||
 |
