Following much speculation over that past few months, IUPUI has now announced that Byron Rimm II will return as the head basketball coach next season. Rimm was named as the interim head coach just before last season. IUPUI conducted a search following the season, but shut it down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. They had advanced past the second round of interviews at that time. It appears that Rimm will retain the interim title going forward. Here is the official release from IUPUI:
The IUPUI Athletics Department has announced that Byron Rimm II will lead the basketball program for the 2020-2021 season. Rimm took over the program just prior to the 2019-2020 season on an interim basis and will enter his second season at the helm this year.
Rimm boasts nearly 200 head coaching wins in a career that has included stops at Jarvis Christian and Prairie View A&M. He initially joined the IUPUI staff as associate head coach just prior to the 2018-19 season before taking over the head coaching spot last season.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead this program for another season and I’m truly excited to see what we can do as a collective unit. I think coming into this year, we’re all on the same page and better prepared for success,” Rimm said. “We’ve got some really talented kids returning to the program and we’ve got some exciting, talented recruits coming on board that should give us an opportunity to be pretty good.
“We’re going to focus on the process of coming to work each day and improving each and every day. There’s a ton of work to do, but we’re up to it. No teams are going to outwork us and through our effort and hard work, I think we can be competitive within the Horizon League.”
Rimm’s squad earned an early season win on the road at South Florida last season and boasted one of the nation’s top three-point shooting duos in Marcus Burk and Jaylen Minnett. Burk was later voted second team All-Horizon League in his first year with the program while junior Elyjah Goss, who ranked among the nation’s top rebounders, was voted to the league’s All-Defensive Team. In addition, point guard Mike DePersia set a freshman record with 85 assists.
Injuries decimated the Jaguars’ roster over the course of the season as just five players saw action in all 32 games and five players from the regular rotation missed significant time.
Rimm anticipates increased depth through a solid stretch in recruiting.
“I’m excited about the guys we have coming back and some of the guys we have coming in,” Rimm said. “We’ve got some guys who are hungry to make an impact on the program from day one.”
