Former University of Nevada-Las Vegas assistant Heath Schroyer was officially introduced as the newest head coach of the UTM men’s basketball team in a press conference on Thursday.
Schroyer, 42, has 18 years of coaching experience, including seven seasons as head coach at Portland State and Wyoming. He spent the past three seasons with UNLV as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, during which time the team won 71 games and made two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2012, he was named one of the nation’s top 15 assistant coaches by Bleacher Report.
“I’m humbled and honored to be your basketball coach,” said Schroyer. “I’m extremely excited. I believe in the potential of this program. … I’m really excited to work with these guys, they’re my number one priority.”
Schroyer will be the ninth head coach in the history of the UTM men’s basketball team. He is replacing Jason James, who was fired on March 3.
“I met with [the team] and I asked them, ‘What do you want in the next coach?'” said UTM athletic director Julio Freire as he introduced Schroyer. “And there were six qualities that kept emerging.”
These qualities, said Freire, included integrity, a focus on academics, recruiting, building meaningful relationships with players, being able to manage the game and being “a great fit in West Tennessee.”
“[Schroyer] met not one, not two, not three, four, or five, but all six of the qualities we were looking for,” Freire said.
Freire has previously worked with Schroyer at UNLV; Freire was senior associate athletic director there when Schroyer joined the Rebels basketball program as an assistant in 2011.
“I have known him to be the kind of person that I want coaching my own son, but more importantly, I know him to be the type of person that I want coaching our 15 young men, better known as the UTM men’s basketball program,” said Freire.
During his address, Schroyer made several references to the program’s “untapped potential,” going so far as to refer to the team as a “sleeping giant.”
“I see greatness here,” Schroyer said. “I have a vision for this program, [and] I see great things. I understand that things aren’t going to happen overnight. … I don’t think this program has begun to reach its potential, [but] there’s a lot of work to do.”
The former graduate of Armstrong Atlantic State outlined three virtues that will shape his tenure at UTM: hard work, discipline and collective accountability. These three virtues, he said, are tantamount to success in any pursuit, not just basketball.
Schroyer was optimistic in his outlook for the coming years.
“This is a new day,” Schroyer said. “This day – today – is the start of a new era of men’s basketball here at Tennessee-Martin.”
Freire was similarly optimistic in his own prediction.
“Today is the start of the traditional men’s NCAA basketball tournament,” said Freire. “And I think that’s awfully fitting, because it will be a short period of time before we’re at the ‘Big Dance’ with our men’s program.”
