Former Oklahoma men’s basketball assistant coach Carlin Hartman has been hired as an assistant coach for the UNLV men’s basketball program, head coach Kevin Kruger announced Thursday. Hartman comes to Las Vegas after spending the last five seasons with the Sooners under Lon Kruger. The program made NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his last four seasons in Norman.
“We are very excited to welcome Carlin and his family to UNLV,” Kruger said. “His experience and success everywhere that he has been is well-documented. He will do a terrific job and we are looking forward to him getting started in Las Vegas.”
As a recruiter, Hartman played a crucial role in bringing in the best recruiting class of the Kruger era at OU. The 2019 class was ranked the highest in the Big 12 and No. 13 in the nation by Rivals. Hartman was recognized by Stadium as one of the top three assistant coaches in the Big 12 – as voted on by league coaches in 2020. Silver Waves Media also named him one of the top 50 impactful high major assistant coaches in the country.
“I am beyond thrilled to be joining Coach Kevin Kruger and such a historic program with the Runnin’ Rebels,” Hartman said. “UNLV has a rich tradition and I look forward to being a part of the basketball program’s renaissance. Having worked these past five years under Hall of Fame Coach Lon Kruger, I feel so fortunate that I was able to help close one chapter with a great Kruger at Oklahoma and will now be a part of the next chapter of another future great coach with Kevin here at UNLV.”
In 2019, Hartman was one of 31 assistant coaches throughout the country to receive an invitation to the Second Annual Collegiate Coaching Consortium, which brings together rising basketball coaches and NCAA Division I athletics directors to participate in a multi-day academy.
Hartman was the lead recruiter of a multitude of Sooner players including eventual NBA Draft selections and one of his major contributions during his time at Oklahoma was the development of the team’s big men position group, which included multiple All-Big 12 honorees.
Hartman has also been an active participant in important social justice initiatives. He is a member of the Coaches Coalition for Progress and he helped form the Black Assistant Coaches Alliance in the Big 12. The CCFP’s mission is to effect change in inner cities and the BACA was formed in response to the ongoing social unrest throughout the country with the goal of creating effective platforms for building better opportunities through transparency, economic and financial literacy programs and civic engagement initiatives for all student-athletes and coaches.
Hartman made his coaching debut as an assistant at Rice in 1996 following his professional basketball career. He served in three separate stints with the Owls, returning for two seasons as director of operations from 2002-04 and as associate head coach from 2014-16.
Prior to his return to Rice, Hartman worked as Columbia’s associate head coach for four seasons. In 2013-14, he helped lead the program to its most wins (21) since 1968. From 2012-14, Hartman served as the Ivy League representative on the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Assistant Coaches Committee.
Before his appointment at Columbia, Hartman was an assistant coach for one season each at James Madison and Centenary in 2009-10 and 2008-09, respectively.
From 2005-08, Hartman worked as assistant coach and was the lead recruiter at Richmond for three seasons where he recruited three of the top scorers in program history, including a future NBA Draft pick.
Hartman mentored three future NBA talents at Rice from 2002-04 as director of operations, including the Owls’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder. The Owls won 41 games over those two seasons, including a 23-13 mark in league play.
Additionally, Hartman spent one season each at McNeese State and Louisiana-Lafayette as an assistant coach.
Hartman earned a degree in communications with a concentration in broadcast journalism from Tulane in 1994. He was inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020 along with his teammates from the 1992 Green Wave team.
He wrapped up his Tulane career ranked 10th in scoring (1,180 points), third on the program’s career field goal percentage list (52.8 percent) and seventh in career steals (146). In 2011, Hartman was named to Tulane’s 1990s All-Decade Team as part of the Green Wave’s celebration of 100 years of basketball. Following college, the Rapid City Thrillers selected Hartman in the third round of the 1994 CBA Draft.
Hartman and his wife, Christine, have four children – Sydney, Kailyn, Tess and Joseph.
Hartman added to UNLV Basketball Staff
