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Texas basketball hires Memphis strength coach Darby Rich

Darby Rich will be the third Texas strength coach in Rodney Terry's time as the program's head coach since early 2023.

By Andrew Miller

Darby Rich
Darby Rich / Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA
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Jason Munz of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported on June 15 that Texas basketball has hired former Memphis Tigers strength and conditioning coach Darby Rich to join their staff. Rich will serve in the same role as the strength coach for Texas on head coach Rodney Terry's staff.

Texas basketball adds new strength coach Darby Rich from Memphis's staff

Rich will replace former Texas strength coach Cory Schlesinger, who left the program to return to the NBA this offseason. Schlesinger's official title at Texas was director of basketball health and performance/assistant coach.

Schlesinger spent one season as Texas's strength coach. His new position is with the Detroit Pistons in the NBA.

Before getting hired at Texas to be the new strength coach, Rich held the same role at Memphis for one season in 2023-24. Rich is a veteran strength coach at the collegiate level. He's served in this role with the likes of the Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies, South Carolina Gamecocks, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Sam Houston State Bearcats.

Rich also was a strength coach at Memphis during two different stints, from 2019-2021 and for this past season.

He's helped the development of key players at Memphis in the last five years, like All-AAC shooting guard David Jones and NBA players like big man James Wiseman, guard Lester Quinones, and forward Precious Achiuwa.

All-conference performers that eventually played in the NBA like guard/wing Danuel House Jr. and big man Tyler Davis were also at Texas A&M while Rich was the strength coach in the mid 2010s.

Rich has the duty of getting a Texas team that is chocked full of new additions from the high school signing class for 2024 and transfers from the spring portal window ready for the start of the upcoming 2024-25 season in the SEC.

Terry and the Longhorns won an NCAA Tournament game for the third year in a row, finishing up the 2023-24 season with a 21-13 (9-9 Big 12) record.

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