EDMOND – UCO athletic director Joe Muller introduced Tom Hankins as the 17th men’s basketball coach Monday.
Hankins spent the previous three years at Southern Illinois as the associate head coach. Before that, he was an assistant coach at Oral Roberts University for 15 years.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here,” Hankins said. “One of my professional goals is at one point be a collegiate head coach at a program of great tradition and great history. And today I’ve attained that goal.
“The opportunity to come back to what we refer to as ‘God’s Country’ here in Oklahoma and the opportunity to live in and raise our family in a great community like Edmond is invaluable. We’re really thankful and we’re all excited.”
Hankins graduated from Edison High School in Tulsa and played collegiately at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and Northeastern State.
He has been an assistant coach at NEO, Frank Phillips College (Texas) and Tulsa East Central High School and served as the head coach at East Central for one year.
Hankins talked about his priorities and academics hit at the top of the list.
“The main and number one goal when you’re the head coach is to recruit young men and to help them to attain and get their degree. Some day the ball is going to stop bouncing, whether you go play professionally or not, and you’re going to need to lean on that degree and that’s probably the most important part of my job.”
As for basketball itself, Hankins said that he recruits offense and teaches defense. He said that he would recruit high-quality players that will represent the university well.
And his basketball philosophy was influenced by an Oklahoma coaching legend, Henry Iba.
“Coach Iba is known for defending and rebounding. And that’s what we’re going to hang our hat on.
“Defense wins championships. That’s what we’re going to stand for and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Joe Muller, director of athletics, said his priorities for selecting the next coach at UCO involved finding someone with deep ties to the state of Oklahoma, who valued the academic achievements of the athletes and who respects where UCO is as an athletic program and the challenges of competing at a high level in the MIAA and nationally.
“(He has)Â all those characteristics and more,” Muller said of Hankins. “He is a high-character, high-quality individual and has incredible, impeccable reputation in the basketball community, not just in Oklahoma, but across the south-central region of the nation.”
Muller also took the time to thank former coach Terry Evans for his contributions to the school during the previous 13 years and interim coach Rodney Dindy for his work in the transition period.