Jason Rabedeaux, who followed Hall of Famer Don Haskins as UTEP’s basketball head coach and was the Sporting News and Houston Chronicle Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2001, has passed away.
Rabedeaux died in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday. He was the head coach of Vietnam’s first-ever professional basketball team, the Saigon Heat. Rabedeaux was 49 years old.
Rabedeaux had just coached the Saigon Heat to a 72-61 win over the Indonesia Warriors on Sunday.
"Coach Rabs was well known for his passion for getting the best out of his players and always putting the development of basketball in Vietnam as his number one priority since arriving in the country in 2012," said a press release on the Air Asia ASEAN Basketball League website.
Rabedeaux had 20 years of experience working in professional basketball in the United States, China, Japan and Bahrain.
He was named UTEP’s head coach on Sept. 10, 1999 after serving as the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Oklahoma. While working under Kelvin Sampson, Rabedeaux helped the Sooners average 20.6 victories per season (1995-99) and make NCAA Tournament appearances each year.
He was 34 years old when he took the reins of the UTEP program.
In his first season (1999-2000), Rabedeaux directed a team short on depth and size to a 13-15 record. The Miners lost six games by three points or fewer that year. UTEP defeated eventual WAC Tournament champion and NCAA Tournament participant Fresno State, 92-78, in El Paso. The Miners registered their first season sweep of New Mexico in 14 years and won at the Lobos’ vaunted home arena, "The Pit," for the first time in nine years. Roy Smallwood was named the WAC Freshman of the Year, ranking among the league leaders in three-point field goal percentage (.459-first), blocks (1.5 bpg-third), field goal percentage (.521-seventh), scoring (13.4 ppg-13th) and rebounding (5.9 rpg-14th).
In his second season (2000-01), Rabedeaux brought in a talented recruiting class to compliment first team All-WAC player Brandon Wolfram. The result was a 23-9 record, a 10-6 mark in league play and an NIT berth, the Miners’ first trip to the postseason in six years. UTEP averaged 80.3 points per game – still a school record – led by Wolfram, who rated seventh nationally and first in the WAC in scoring (22.3 ppg). The Miners were seventh in the country in field goal percentage (.492), 14th in free throw percentage (.753) and 17th in scoring offense.
Rabedeaux’s third season (2001-02) started with high expectations, but the Miners struggled without Wolfram. They finished 10-22 and averaged more than 11 fewer points per game with Eugene Costello (13.1 ppg), Smallwood (12.4 ppg) and Brian Stewart (10.7 ppg) as the team’s leading scorers.
He resigned as UTEP’s head coach on Oct. 21, 2002, citing personal reasons. His record at UTEP was 46-46. He later was the Director of Basketball Operations at Marquette University before moving overseas.
A native of Eau Claire, Wis., Rabedeaux starred at Eau Claire Memorial High School in the 1980’s and twice earned All-Conference honors at the University of California-Davis.
He started his collegiate coaching career at North Adams State (1988-89) before moving on to Washington State (1989-94), where he also worked with Sampson, prior to making his way to Norman, Okla.
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