Texas Basketball: Former UTEP HC Rodney Terry joining Beard’s staff

The coaching staff continues to build around newly hired Texas basketball head coach Chris Beard this week. Texas hired Beard to replace their former sixth-year head coach Shaka Smart, who bolted from Austin to take the Marquette Golden Eagles head coaching job back on March 26, with a large contract worth around $35 million over the course of seven years.

According to a report from Horns247 (paid content) on April 6, the latest addition to Beard’s coaching staff among the assistants will be the second head coach that he’s hauled away from another Division I school. Former UTEP Miners head coach Rodney Terry will be one of the key assistants on staff with Beard and the Longhorns after he was reportedly hired away out of Conference-USA country this week.

Terry is also a former assistant coach from the days when Rick Barnes was the Longhorns head coach. The Arlington, TX, native and St. Edwards alum has a long and proven coaching resume at the college hoops level.

Impact of Texas basketball adding Rodney Terry to the staff

Back in his day as a Texas assistant under Barnes, Terry recruited key talents to the Forty Acres like former star guard Cory Joseph, star power forward Tristan Thompson, and ultra-reliable big man Dexter Pittman. Getting that recruiting presence on Beard’s staff is going to be huge for the program moving forward.

Terry started his run as an assistant coach in Division I college basketball with the Baylor Bears back in the mid-to-late 1990s. After his first role with the Baylor coaching staff, Terry also held assistant jobs with the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks and Texas through 2011. After his run with the Texas staff as an assistant came to an end in 2011, Terry took his first college hoops head coaching job with the Fresno State Bulldogs ahead of the 2011-12 season.

Holding the Fresno State head coaching job until the end of the 2017-18 season, he rounded out his tenure with a record of 126-108 (.538 winning percentage). He won one Mountain West Conference Tournament title during his time with Fresno State and made one NCAA Tournament appearance.

For each of the last three seasons, Terry held the head coaching position with UTEP. He was consistently improving with the Miners through the end of this season. Terry rounded out his coaching tenure in three years at UTEP with a record of 37-48 (.435 winning percentage).

Terry made a name for himself as a respected head coach and a really good recruiter at the college hoops ranks. Getting him from an in-state program that he was improving year over year like UTEP is huge for Beard. He’s constructing a great staff around him, including the likes of former UTA head coach Chris Ogden and former Texas Tech Red Raiders assistant Ulric Maligi.

The process for Beard constructing his coaching staff with the Longhorns is not done yet. He was just hired with Texas away from the Texas Tech program back on April 1. Beard is still very much in the early stages of building up his assistant and support staff.

Texas finished up the 2020-21 season with a record of 19-8 (11-6 Big 12) under Smart’s direction. An early exit in the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64 at the hands of 14-seed Abilene Christian meant that the Longhorns entered this offseason on a disappointing note.