Stan Heath

College coach infobox
Name = Stan Heath
Sport = Basketball


ImageWidth = 150px
Caption = Stan Heath
DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1964|12|17
Birthplace =
DateOfDeath =
Deathplace =
College = South Florida
Title = Head coach
Awards =
Championships = MAC Tournament Championship (2002)
MAC Regular Season Championship (2002)
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord =
Player = *
Years = 1984–1987
Team = Eastern Michigan
Position =
Coach = *
CoachYears = 1988–1989
1989–1991
1991–1994
1994–1996
1996–2001
2001–2002
2002–2007
2007–present
CoachTeams = Hillsdale (asst.)
Albion (asst.)
Wayne State (asst.)
Bowling Green (asst.)
Michigan State (asst.)
Kent State
Arkansas
South Florida
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF =

Stanley Heath III (born December 17 1964) is the head men's basketball coach at the University of South Florida Bulls (located in Tampa, Florida). Heath is the former head basketball coach of the University of Arkansas (also known as the Arkansas Razorbacks) in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Kent State University, whom he led to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2002.

Background

Stan Heath graduated from Detroit Catholic Central High School in 1983. He was an all-state guard during his time there. He went on to earn his bachelor's in social science from Eastern Michigan University in 1988 and his master’s in sports administration from Wayne State University in 1993. Heath redshirted during his first year at Eastern Michigan before lettering his final three years (1985- 1987] .

Heath is married to the former Ramona Webb (whom he met during his junior year at Eastern Michigan) and they have two sons, Jordan and Joshua.

Coaching career

Assistant & Division II Coaching

Stan Heath began his collegiate career at Hillsdale College in 1989 as an assistant. After one season, he moved to Albion College where he was an assistant and the junior varsity head coach for two years. He worked at Wayne State University in Detroit the following three years, including serving as associate head coach in 1994 when WSU set a school record for victories (25-5), helping the Tartars win two Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles with a trip to the NCAA Division II Final Four in 1993.

After two seasons as an assistant at Bowling Green State University, he joined Tom Izzo at Michigan State where he was an assistant for five years. He helped the Spartans advance to the Final Four three straight years (1999, 2000, 2001), win the 2000 national title, make another appearance in the Sweet 16 and go a combined 132-37. The Spartans posted records of 17-12 in 1997, 22-8 in 1998, 33-5 in 1999, 32-7 in 2000 and 28-5 in 2001. In addition to the three trips to the Final Four, MSU also reached the Sweet 16 in 1998 and the second round of the NIT in 1997.

On March 19 2001, Sports Illustrated featured “five college coaches waiting in the wings.” Heath was on that list, along with assistant Leonard Perry of Iowa State, Florida assistant John Pelphrey, head coach Jeff Ruland of Iona and Hofstra assistant Jay Wright. A month after that, he was named the head coach at Kent State.

Kent State

Heath got his first collegiate head coach job at Kent State in 2002. Under his guidance, the Golden Flashes finished with a 30-6 record that year and won the Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles. They then came within a victory of reaching the Final Four before falling to Indiana a barrage of timely three-pointers at the South Regional finals of the NCAA Tournament.

Along the way, Kent set school and MAC records for wins (30), breaking the record of 29 set by Ball State in 1989; became the first MAC team to reach the Elite Eight since Ohio University in 1964; recorded a league-record 21-game winning streak, including a 17-1 mark in conference play; beat three ranked teams in the NCAA Tournament, including No. 20 Oklahoma State University - Stillwater, 69-61, No. 8 University of Alabama, 71-58, and No. 9 University of Pittsburgh, 78-73 in overtime, before losing to Indiana, 81-69; went 12-0 at home with an average attendance of 4,928, Kent’s best since 1970; led the MAC in scoring defense (64.0 ppg), scoring margin (+11.9 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.418), rebounding margin (+5.0 rpg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.24) while also ranking second in three-point field goal percentage defense (.326) and turnover margin (+2.78); and suffered its five regular season losses by a total of 15 points.

Individually, Heath’s 30 wins ties for the third-most by a first-year head coach in NCAA Division I history with John Warren of Oregon (1945). Only Bill Guthridge of North Carolina (34 in 1998) and Bill Hodges of Indiana State (33 in 1979) won more. The Detroit native was also voted the MAC Coach of the Year and named the national Rookie Coach of the Year by both CBSSportsline.com and CollegeInsider.com.

Arkansas

After his successful first season at Kent State, Heath then moved on to the head coaching position at the University of Arkansas. He was hired on March 28, 2002 to replace Nolan Richardson who had been controversially fired that year after claiming he was being mistreated because he was African American. A number of players and incoming recruits decided to leave the team and go elsewhere in the wake of Richardson's firing.

The 2003 season (2002-2003), Heath's first as Razorback head coach, was a difficult one. With key players having left the team, as well as the normal adjustments to a new system, the team struggled to a 9-19 record.

The 2004 season (2003-2004) saw some improvement to key areas, as well as the addition of key freshmen Parade All-American Ronnie Brewer and McDonald's All-American Olu Famutimi, who contributed to a 12-16 record. The team was the 8th youngest in the NCAA.

The 2005 season (2004-2005) showed marked improvement in almost every area, most notably in the front court, with the addition of Steven Hill, Darian Townes, and Charles Thomas. The jewel of the recruiting class, Al Jefferson, never made it to Arkansas as he was selected in the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, Heath spoke for the team in announcing they would not accept an invitation to the NIT end of year basketball tournament. This followed an end of year slide which resulted in the loss of 5 of the last 6 games. The team finished with an 18-12 overall record.

The 2006 season (2005-2006) began with a key win over University of Kansas, and respectable losses to national powers Connecticut and Maryland. The end of conference play brought on wins over ranked opponents Florida and Tennessee, five straight wins, and a winning regular season conference record for the first time for Heath at Arkansas. The Razorbacks received an NCAA tournament bid for the first time under Heath, but lost in the first round to Bucknell. At the end of the 2005-2006 season as coach, Arkansas had improved (winning percentage, post season play, conference record) in each of the four full seasons he has coached.

The 2007 season (2006-2007) began by winning the Old Spice Classic inaugural tournament with wins over Southern Illinois, Marist, and West Virginia. The team made it to the SEC Championship Game with victories over South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt. The Razorbacks would lose to Florida in the championship game 77-56 but still received an at large bid to the 2007 NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. The Razorbacks received a 12th seed but lost in the first round against 5th seeded Southern California with the final score of 77-60. On March 26, 2007, Heath's coaching career at Arkansas ended. [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2813245] It was reported that Heath would get a settlement of $900,000 dollars over the next three years after being fired. Heath had been earning $772,943 (including media contract, endorsements, etc.) plus an additional $71,000 tax deferred annuity and UA retirement account.

South Florida

Shortly after being fired from Arkansas, Heath agreed to a five year contract with the South Florida Bulls on April 2, 2007 replacing Robert McCullum. [http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/6637320] The Bulls, coming off a 12-16 season the year before, lost their first 3 games of the season before rebounding with a win over in-state rival Florida State.

Head coaching record

External links

* [http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=36687&SPID=2923&DB_OEM_ID=7700&ATCLID=847595&Q_SEASON=2007 USF Athletics page for Stan Heath]