March 19, 2004
LAS VEGAS - New UNLV men's basketball head coach Lon Kruger has hired Marvin Menzies as assistant coach, the school announced Friday.
"Marvin brings a track record of success to UNLV," Kruger said. "He has attracted very good players and has been excellent in recruiting the Southern California area along with other parts of the country. He is one of the most highly respected coaches on the West Coast and I am excited about him joining our program here at UNLV."
Menzies comes to Las Vegas after spending one year as an assistant coach with the USC men's basketball program. Previously, he was an assistant coach at San Diego State.
Menzies, 41, spent four years (1999-03) with the Aztecs, where he helped the program reach the postseason in back-to-back years (2002-03) for the first time since 1975-76.
As the head recruiter at San Diego State, Menzies signed nationally ranked recruiting classes in 2001 (Top 25) and 2000 (Top 40). He signed the program's first-ever McDonald's All-American and also signed former Aztec Randy Holcomb, who was taken by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2002 NBA Draft.
Prior to coaching at San Diego State, Menzies was at Santa Monica (Calif.) City College. He was an assistant coach and associate head coach from 1991-94, 1995-96 and 1997-99. He served as the program's head coach in 1994-95. Overall, Santa Monica City College was 181-46 with Menzies on the staff and sent 38 players on to NCAA schools during that period.
Among the highlights of Menzies' tenure at Santa Monica was a school-record 27-game winning streak and a 32-2 finish in 1996, which marked a school record for wins. Menzies recruited the top three scorers in the program's history. In 1994-95, he guided the Corsairs to a 24-8 record and the Western States Conference title, earning conference coach of the year honors.
In between his stints at Santa Monica, Menzies served as an assistant coach at Cal State Sacramento in 1996-97. There, he served under former New Jersey Nets' assistant Don Newman as the Hornets' transitioned from Division II to Division I.
Menzies began his coaching career at his prep alma mater, Hamilton High in Los Angeles, where he served as an assistant coach for eight years.
The native Californian was a three-sport letterman at Hamilton. He went on to earn an economics degree from UCLA (1987) and earned a master's degree in education from Cal State Sacramento.
Menzies and his wife, Tammy, have two children, Andreanna and Andre.
