Head coach Mick Durham has announced the hiring of former Montana State forward Bobby Howard as the new assistant coach of the Alaska men’s basketball program for the 2014-15 season.

"Bobby will hit the ground running here in late August and learn about our guys and the GNAC in a short amount of time," Durham said. "I’ve known Bobby and his family a long time and we’re getting a talented young coach who has coaching in his blood."

"Coach Durham is someone who recruited me out of high school when he was at Montana State," Howard said. "Our history goes way back and I’m really excited to be able to work with him and work for him."

Howard, a 2011 graduate of Montana State, spent the last two seasons in assistant role capacities at the University of Montana Western (2013-14) and Minot State (2012-13) out of North Dakota. Prior to the start of his coaching career, Howard had a short stint playing for CSU Sibiu in 2011-12, a Romanian professional basketball team in the Romanian Basketball Division A.

The Great Falls, Mont., native played four seasons of Division I basketball at Montana State (2007-11), which is also the alma mater of Durham, who graduated there in 1980. He was a two-time All-Big Sky Conference honoree, landing First Team honors as a junior in 2009-10 and Second Team accolades as a senior in 2010-11.

He finished his career as the 11th-leading scoring in the history of MSU basketball with 1,366 points while also ranking sixth on the program’s all-time list in 3-pointers made with 160.

Howard played in 119 games as a Bobcat, making 82 starts as he averaged 11.5 points per game for his career, including 14.8 points per game as a senior and 14.3 points per outing as a junior. He also brought down 5.1 rebounds per game over his four years, including a single-season best average of 7.2 boards as a senior.

He helped the Bobcats to a third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference standings during his junior year in 2009-10 as they were 10-6 in league play and 15-14 overall. Howard was also a member of the 2008-09 team that upset its way as the six seed all the way to the Big Sky championship game.

"Bobby was an excellent high school player and continued on to have an outstanding career in Division I at Montana State," Durham said. "He brings great playing experience at a high level into his assistant coaching position. Bobby will be responsible for developing our inside players along with having recruiting duties in the northwest."

"My interest level [for the job] was peaked because of Mick," Howard said. "Anytime Mick calls, I always listen. He had an opportunity for me to coach with him. The league is a very good league and it’s a chance to build off the success he’s had the last two years. I know we have a brand-new team coming in and I’m excited to get up there to get to work, meet the guys, meet the whole entire community and put a product out there that everyone can be proud of."

Howard replaces former assistant Jon Clift, who resigned after two seasons to pursue other professional opportunities back in his home state of Washington.

"We really appreciate the two years Jon devoted to our program and all that he helped us accomplish," Durham said. "He helped develop the culture we want in our basketball program which is quality character decisions both on and off the court. That’s who he is and what we want our players to see every day. We wish Jon the best in his pursuits."

Alaska is coming off an 18-10 season and finished third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with a 12-6 mark. The Nanooks advanced to the conference semifinals for the second straight season and three outgoing seniors were named to the All-Conference squads, including forward Andrew Kelly (Gilbert, Ariz./Justice), who garnered GNAC Defensive Player of the Year laurels.

The top returner and lone starter back for this season is senior guard Joe Slocum (San Francisco, Calif./Communication), who averaged 10.4 points while leading the team with 4.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

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