The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced that Luke Mackay, who spent the last two seasons as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma, is now an assistant coach with the UTRGV men’s basketball program.
While at Oklahoma, Mackay worked with recently hired UTRGV Men’s Basketball Head Coach Lew Hill and former Pan American University head coach and current Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger, helping them to lead the team to two NCAA Tournament appearances, including a berth in this year’s Final Four, while going 53-19 (.736).
Mackay’s responsibilities included working with individual student-athletes on skill development, scouting, defensive alertness, preparing recruiting materials, and assisting with recruiting visits.
“He’s awesome. He was a teacher and a coach in San Antonio before taking a big pay cut to go to graduate school because he wanted to follow his dreams,” Hill said. “I’ve seen him wake up every morning, rebound basketballs for the players, help in the film room, and always be willing to ask questions of the coaches and better himself. After seeing that kind of work ethic every day, I knew I had to bring him on board.”
Prior to joining Oklahoma, Mackay spent four years as the varsity head coach at McCollum High School in San Antonio. During his final season, Mackay simultaneously served as an advance scout for the Orlando Magic.
Originally from Perth, Australia, Mackay is the all-time leading scorer in Western Australian high school basketball history. He played his senior season at North Jackson High School in Alabama, for whom he earned All-State honors. Mackay went on to play at Lon Morris College from 2000-02, earning NJCAA Region 14 All-Tournament First Team honors, before playing two seasons at East Carolina.
Mackay started to gain coaching experience in 1999 as a coach in the Perth Basketball Association, and continued to develop his skills as a basketball camp counselor at East Carolina in 2003 and 2004.
He then became an assistant coach with the Perth Redbacks in 2006-07, a team that he was also playing for.
At the same time, Mackay began spending the academic years in Texas, serving as the boys’ basketball coach at Corsicana High School.
“It’s really exciting. My wife and my kids are all fired up to get down here,” Mackay said. “We had a great experience at Oklahoma and we’re ready to get down here and have some fun and start winning.”
Mackay earned his Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education from East Carolina in May 2006 and is in the process of completing his Master of Human Relations at Oklahoma.
http://goutrgv.com/news/2016/4/8/mens-basketball-hires-luke-mackay-as-assistant-coach.aspx
