After helping change the culture of the Fresno State men’s basketball program both on and off the court, Michael Schwartz has been promoted to associate head coach, Bulldogs’ head coach Rodney Terry announced Monday.
"We have one of the best young basketball minds in the business," Terry said of Schwartz. "He has really helped us build the core foundation of our program both on and off the court. The continuity of our staff is essential for us moving forward.
Schwartz is in his fourth season on Terry’s staff and served the previous three seasons as the Bulldogs’ lead assistant coach. Schwartz has been the Bulldogs’ in-game coordinator and primarily responsible for game preparation, recruiting, scouting and skill development.
"Our group of guys – both returning and incoming players – have all worked extremely hard so far this summer," Schwartz said. "After getting a taste of postseason play, everyone in the program was eager to build on last year’s success during the offseason and upcoming preseason. The team has responded well to the challenges and expectations that Coach Terry and the staff have established regarding academic success, player development and winning. There is optimism in our program about an exciting 2014-15 campaign, and we are looking forward to giving the Red Wave a lot to be proud of."
The momentum that Fresno State looks to continue to build upon largely comes from the program’s strong finish last season. The ‘Dogs won 13 of their last 18 games, including eight of the final 10 regular season contests, and reached the championship series of the 16-team College Basketball Invitational.
Schwartz was part of the staff that led the Bulldogs to the program’s first 20-win season and also coached freshman guard/forward Paul Watson to Freshman All-American and Mountain West Freshman of the Year honors, along with two other all-conference selections in guards Tyler Johnson and Marvelle Harris.
Schwartz was an instrumental factor in the Bulldogs’ most recent recruiting class that ranks as one of the highest rated classes in school history. Freshmen Eugene Artison, Isaiah Bailey and Terrell Carter II, and junior guard Darnell Taylor, all join Fresno State for the upcoming campaign. The ‘Dogs also add redshirt sophomore forward Braeden Anderson, who missed all of last season due to a neck injury, and Texas transfer shooting guard Julien Lewis to their rotation.
In the classroom, Fresno State posted a program-record 980 Academic Progress Rate for the 2012-13 season – the most recent year for which the NCAA has announced its academic ratings.
Before joining the Bulldog family, Schwartz spent four seasons as an assistant coach and six seasons overall as a member of the University of Miami (Fla.) men’s basketball program. In his time as an assistant at Miami, Schwartz helped lead the Hurricanes to an overall record of 83-52 and three postseason appearances, making it to the NCAA second round in his first year and the NIT quarterfinals in 2011. Schwartz was key in guiding Miami to one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in 2007-08 when they posted the second-most wins in program history (23), including a school-record 14 wins at home and a program-best fifth-place finish in the ACC. The Canes broke into the Top 25 during his first three years as an assistant. Prior to becoming an assistant coach, Schwartz served as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations at Miami. In that capacity, he handled video operations, including film breakdown and opponent scouting, supervised recruiting mail outs and served as a liaison with the team’s managerial staff.
Schwartz joined the Hurricane staff in 2005 after one season as an assistant coach at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Before joining the staff at UT-San Antonio, Schwartz served as the men’s basketball video coordinator at the University of Texas for two seasons (2002-04). Schwartz played basketball at Texas in 1998-99 and was a member of the Longhorns’ Big XII championship team.
Schwartz graduated from Texas in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication studies, and served as a graduate assistant at Texas from 1999 until 2001. He left Texas in 2001-02 to join the men’s basketball staff at Long Beach State University. However, he returned to Texas as video coordinator in 2002 and was part of the Longhorns’ run to the NCAA Final Four in 2003 and the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2004. Schwartz also gained experience with USA Basketball as a support staff member for the 2001 Young Men’s World Championship Trials, the 2000 USA National Select Team — coached by Mike Jarvis and Bob Huggins — and the 2000 USA Youth Development Festival.
A native of Los Angeles, Calif., Schwartz played collegiate basketball at Sonoma State University (1994-96) before finishing his career at the University of Texas. Schwartz is married to the former Stephanie Chrisman and together they have two daughters, Sydney and Samantha.
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