April 28, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - Heath Schroyer has been hired as an assistant coach for the UNLV men's basketball program, head coach Dave Rice announced Thursday.
A veteran in the world of coaching, Schroyer, 39, brings seven years of experience as a Division I head coach and each of the Division I programs he has coached with throughout his career has won a league championship or reached postseason play.
"We are very excited to add Heath to our staff," Rice said. "Having been a head coach for seven years at the Division I level, he brings great experience. His teams were always well prepared and played hard. He is a tireless worker and has terrific recruiting contacts around the nation, including in the East, which is the area of the country where he grew up. Heath's familiarity with our league is also a big asset."
Schroyer comes to UNLV after four years as head coach at Wyoming (2007-11). He was also the head coach at Portland State (2002-05), before serving as Fresno State's associate head coach (2005-07) for two seasons. Prior to his time leading the Vikings, Schroyer was an assistant coach at Wyoming (2001-02), BYU (1997-01) and at Fresno City College (1996-97).
"I'm excited to be here and honored to be part of the Rebel family," Schroyer said. "UNLV has the administration and leadership in place to be one of the premier basketball programs in the country. I'm looking forward to helping Coach Rice build on the great tradition that has already been established."
After taking over at Wyoming, Schroyer's first Cowboy team won 12 games, but in his second season, vast improvement was made as the team won 19 games and earned its first postseason bid (2009) for the first time in six years after making a Mountain West Conference Tournament semifinal appearance.
At Wyoming, Schroyer recruited two of the top freshmen in the country over the past two years in Afam Muojeke and Desmar Jackson. Muojeke was the 2009 MWC Freshman of the Year after becoming the league's all-time leading freshman scorer and Jackson was named third team all-conference in 2010.
When Schroyer was hired at Portland State in 2002, he became the second-youngest Division I head men's basketball coach in the country (at age 30). Another rebuilding project, he took the program from winning just five games in his first season to winning the 2005 Big Sky regular-season championship, marking the first Division I conference championship in any sport in school history. He also led the team to a top-three turnaround in the nation in his second year.
Prior to accepting the Wyoming head coaching job, Schroyer was the associate head coach at Fresno State. The Bulldogs posted a 22-10 record during the 2006-07 season and played in the NIT. He was the program's recruiting coordinator and oversaw the team's academic turnaround.
Before becoming Portland State's head coach, he was an assistant coach at Wyoming the year it advanced to the NCAA Tournament's second round, making its first appearance in the Big Dance in 14 years. That 2001-02 Cowboy team also won the MWC's regular-season championship before upsetting Gonzaga, who was ranked No. 6 in the country, in the NCAA Tournament. Schroyer oversaw the defense as an assistant at Wyoming, helping the team to lead the conference in field-goal percentage defense, defensive rebounding and rebound margin.
As an assistant at BYU, the team made two postseason appearances in his four seasons. He was part of a resurgence that saw the Cougars improve from 1-25 the year before the new coaching staff's arrival, to an NIT appearance in 2000, and a league championship and a NCAA Tournament appearance in 2001.
Overall, he has recruited/coached 46 players who have gone on to play professionally.
Schroyer also has experience as a television analyst as he worked the 2011 College Basketball Invitational for HDNet and served as The Mtn.'s NCAA tournament analyst this past March. He also was the Utah Jazz' television analyst during the 2001 NBA Playoffs.
A native of Walkersville, Md., Schroyer played high school basketball at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Md., under legendary coach Morgan Wootten. He earned all-conference honors as a player at Kings River Community College in Reedley, Calif., and led his team to the California Junior College Final Four in 1992. He finished his collegiate career at Armstrong Atlantic State in Savannah, Ga., where as a senior, he was a team captain and led his team to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16.
Schroyer earned his bachelor's degree in liberal studies from Armstrong Atlantic State in 1995, and his master's in institutional leadership from from National University (Fresno, Calif.) in 1996.
