Claunch officially announces men's basketball staff

SAN ANTONIO – New UTSA men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch on Wednesday officially announced four members of his inaugural staff, adding a talented group of professionals with proven skills in recruiting, roster development and relationship building, and who are ready to hit the ground running.

Nick Bowman, Joey Brooks, Trevor DeLoach and Joseph Jones have been named assistant coaches to begin the new era of Roadrunners basketball after Claunch was named the program’s seventh head coach on March 17, 2024. Three of the four staff members have a shared history with Claunch, as key components of the Colonels’ success during his time leading Nicholls State to two conference championships.

“Throughout this process, there was a lot of interest and excitement due to the rising trajectory of every aspect of the UTSA athletics program,” Claunch said. “When filling out this staff, there were certain things I was looking for: geographic ties, recruiting expertise and experience. But it’s always been most important to me to have people I trust and understand who they are as men from a character, integrity and relationships standpoint. I’ve surrounded myself with an exceptional staff that all value things that I value on and off the court when it comes to developing student-athletes.”

Nick Bowman is an assistant coach and arrives at UTSA after one season as the lead assistant and recruiting coordinator at the University of New Orleans. Bowman spent five seasons on Claunch’s staff at Nicholls, serving as an assistant for two seasons before his promotion to associate head basketball coach for the final three years. During his tenure at Nicholls, Bowman helped Claunch lead the Colonels to 90 wins and two Southland Conference regular season championships. He was instrumental in recruiting and coaching 11 all-conference student-athletes that helped propel the Colonels to a school record for most regular single-season wins and most regular-season victories over a five-year period. The Colonels also advanced to the 2022 NIT postseason tournament.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to rejoin coach Austin Claunch at UTSA,” Bowman said. “It is an exciting time to be a part of UTSA Athletics. I will strive to help Coach Claunch elevate this basketball program back to a championship level.”

Before Nicholls, Bowman spent three years at Clemson as the men's basketball director of recruiting. During his tenure, the Tigers advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2018 NCAA Tournament and to the NIT postseason Tournament in 2017. Bowman served as the lead offensive game planner for the Tigers in 2017-18, a squad that tied the school wins record with 25 victories. While with the Tigers, Bowman coached first team All-ACC players Jaron Blossomgame, Marcquise Reed and Gabe DeVoe. He recruited and signed Clemson’s first men’s basketball recruiting class to feature multiple four-star in 2017.

Prior to his stint in the ACC, Bowman was director of basketball operations at his alma mater, Eastern Kentucky, helping lead the EKU Colonels to an Ohio Valley Conference Eastern Division championship with a 21-12 final record. He also was a graduate assistant at EKU in 2012-13 before moving into a Director of Basketball Operations Assistant role at Tennessee in 2013-14. In his lone season with the Volunteers, they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. He began his coaching career at NAIA program University of Pikeville in Kentucky.

Joey Brooks is an assistant coach for the Roadrunners and at the forefront of his responsibilities will be actively overseeing all UTSA men’s basketball NIL initiatives. Brooks comes to San Antonio following one year in a similar role at Coastal Carolina. Prior to that, he completed his second stint at Nicholls in 2022-23, after getting started with the Colonels while serving as an assistant coach for Claunch in the 2019-20 season – helping the squad to a 55-31 record and 40-15 Southland Conference mark and the 2021 Southland Conference Regular Season title during his tenure. After two seasons at Nicholls, Brooks joined Dedrique Taylor’s staff at Cal State Fullerton, helping the Titans to a magical 15-game turnaround that saw CSF shift from seventh in the preseason Big West predictions to winning the conference tournament and reaching the NCAA Tournament with a 21-11 record. In his time at Fullerton, the Titans’ defense improved in the rankings by 102 slots in effective defensive field goals percentage (dropping 3.8 percent), 143 slots in 2-point percentage defense (dropping 4.1 percent), and 140 spots in adjusted defensive efficiency.

“As a native Texan, there is an abundance of reasons to be extremely excited about the opportunity to rebuild a program hungry for sustained energy, effort and success,” Brooks said. “Success starts with people and our number one task is to reinvigorate Roadrunner Nation and give alumni, fans and students a product to be proud of."

A 2013 Notre Dame graduate, Brooks also spent two years at Purdue as a graduate assistant. During his time with the Boilermakers, Purdue won a Big Ten Championship and made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, which included a trip to the Sweet Sixteen and the 2019 Elite Eight run. During that period, Brooks helped coach five All-Big Ten selections and two All-Americans – leading individual workouts with Carsen Edwards, the Jerry West Award winner for the nation's top shooting guard.

A Houston native out of Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, Brooks was a four-year letterwinner playing guard for 80 games at Notre Dame under head coach Mike Brey. He was a two-time Big East Academic Honor Roll honoree and was named to the Big East All-Academic Team, also appointed by Brey to the Notre Dame Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Before leaning into his coaching career, Brooks spent a year as a senior analytics specialist in addition to working four years with Pure Sweat Basketball (NBA skills trainer) and building up his skill set at the Marketing Arm (content strategist), Krossover Intelligence (basketball specialist, account executive, and business development assistant), John Lucas Enterprises (NBA/NCAA Player Development) and with IBM.

Notably, Brooks has personally trained or assisted in training over 25 players currently on NBA, G-League or Euro League rosters.

Trevor DeLoach is an assistant coach and will serve as recruiting coordinator. DeLoach arrives at UTSA following three seasons as an assistant coach at Jacksonville, helping the program to 50 wins in three seasons, a runner-up finish in the 2022 ASUN Men's Basketball Championship and helping tutor Kevion Nolan to All-ASUN first-team honors in 2021-22. With DeLoach analyzing and coordinating defensive efforts for the Dolphins, JU boasted the No. 4 NCAA scoring defense in 2021-22, allowing just 59.3 ppg. DeLoach also recruited this year’s NCAA No. 2 scorer Tommy Bruner to JU and brought in 2024 All-ASUN and ASUN All-Tournament Team guard Robert McCray. In both 2022-23 and 2023-24, DeLoach was named among the top ASUN assistant coaches by CBB Nation.

“Joining this new era at UTSA represents not only a professional opportunity but also a chance to contribute to the growth and success of a remarkable team,” DeLoach said. “I am deeply impressed by the university's commitment to excellence, both on and off the court, and I am eager to bring my skills, experience, and passion to this role. I want to express my sincere appreciation to head coach Austin Claunch and athletic director Lisa Campos for their support throughout this process. Their guidance and encouragement have been invaluable, and I am grateful for the opportunity to become a part of the UTSA family and the San Antonio community. I am committed to working tirelessly to help our athletes reach their full potential, to uphold the values of sportsmanship and integrity, and to contribute to the ongoing success of UTSA athletics.”

Before JU, he served as associate head coach at Nicholls, where he showed his recruiting prowess, drawing six players to Thibodaux that went on to receive All-Southland Conference recognition, including 2020-21 Southland Newcomer of the Year Ty Gordon. In his final season at Nicholls, the team won 21 games, captured a regular-season championship and advanced to the Southland Conference Tournament Championship game.

Like Brooks and Bowman, DeLoach was on Claunch’s Nicholls staff, hired in May 2018 as an assistant coach on the inaugural staff and was elevated to associate head coach the very next season. As a member of the Nicholls staff, he helped coach the squad from 14 wins in the first season to a school-record 21 victories in year two, totaling 53 wins in his three-year stretch. In his second season coordinating defense for the Colonels, Nicholls ranked third in the nation in steals per game and turnovers forced. In year three, Nicholls claimed the Nicholls the outright Southland Conference title after going 14-2 in league play. DeLoach was ranked the number five assistant coach in the Southland Conference before the 2020-21 season by Jeff Goodman of Stadium.

Before his arrival in Thibodaux, DeLoach spent two seasons (2016-18) as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at South Carolina State University, where he worked with All-MEAC guards Eric Eaves and Ed Stephens daily. He joined the Bulldogs from fellow MEAC program Maryland Eastern Shore, where he was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for two seasons (2014-16). There he recruited several all-conference players, including 2015 MEAC Rookie of the Year Ryan Andino. DeLoach was also featured in a Forbes article for being the coach who discovered and first offered Ja Morant.

Cutting his teeth in the coaching world, DeLoach was a graduate assistant for his alma mater, UNC Wilmington, during the 2013-14 season. Serving a high-value role from the GA position, DeLoach prepared scouting reports, maintained the scouting database, managed the budget for the team’s travel and trained student-athletes during the offseason for the Seahawks.

In his playing days, DeLoach was team captain at guard for his final three seasons at UNCW. He was an All-CAA honorable mention selection in 2011 and named Most Improved in 2010. During a lone season at Chipola College, he helped the Indians to a 35-2 record, including the program’s first-ever unbeaten record in the Panhandle Conference.

Joseph Jones joins UTSA as an assistant coach. Jones started his fourth year at Tarleton State as an assistant coach in 2023 but took up the role of acting head coach after Billy Gillespie had to leave his role after medical circumstances following the fourth game. What the Texans accomplished under Jones’ leadership led to the most historic season in program history – compiling a 23-8 record with him at the helm, leading Tarleton to its first WAC Semifinal appearance as well as a CIT Semifinal bid.

“Super excited to be a part of this staff,” Jones said. “Coach Claunch has done a lot of winning as a coach and I just want to add to that. It's going to take some hard work to get it going but everyone is hungry for the challenge and looking forward to making a lot of noise as a program.”

Jones’ Texans secured a program record with a WAC 10-game streak that stretched from January to March, upsetting eventual WAC Champion, Grand Canyon – which went on to face Claunch’s Alabama squad in the NCAA second round.

The squad proceeded to set a new wins program record with 25 victories and its 16 triumphs in WAC play were the highest in any conference in program history – earning a spot among only 17 NCAA DI teams on the year to register 10 road wins and was the only reclassifying program on the list.

After the record-breaking season in his first stint as a head coach, Jones was tabbed the WAC Coach of the Year. He tallied the second-most victories of all first-year D1 head coaches in the 2023-24 season, was one of 10 coaches that notched at least 20 wins in their first season, and surpassed Texas' Rodney Terry's 22 wins for the most interim wins in the past two seasons. Tarleton earned a program-high second seed in the WAC Tournament and reached the Semifinal, going on to host its first postseason tournament, the College Insider.com Postseason Tournament presented by BSN SPORTS and reached the tournament Semifinal – missing the Final by a single-point loss to Purdue Fort Wayne.

Under Jones’ guidance, Tarleton’s KiAndre Gaddy received WAC Defensive Player of the Year laurels and was named a top-25 finalist for the Lefty Driessel Award – presented annually to the NCAA’s top defensive player. Jakorie Smith became to program’s first All-WAC first-teamer, while Gaddy was joined by Emmanuel Innocenti on the WAC All-Defensive team. At the end of the regular season, Tarleton was in the top-3 in nine statistical categories, including topping the league in four, including fewest turnovers per game (13.1), turnover margin (+ 3.0), steals per game (9.0) and free throw percentage (75.2%). Nationally, Tarleton had the 18th most steals per game, 26th highest turnover margin, and 36th most turnovers forced per game.

Beginning his time in Stephenville, Gillespie hired Jones at midseason in 2020-21, bringing the former Texas A&M Hall of Famer aboard a week before conference play began. In 2020-21, Jones helped coach Tarleton to eight of their 10 wins during the program’s inaugural Division I season and helped develop and coach four All-WAC selections, including the Freshman of the Year in Freddy Hicks. The 2020-21 Texans would have led the nation in steals per game (10.5), ranked second in turnovers forced per game (19.5) and 15th in the nation in points allowed (62.3) if transitional programs were qualified for NCAA statistical rankings. Jones was known as a defensive force during his playing days in College Station and brought that same mentality to Tarleton during his first full season as an assistant coach in 2021-22. The Texans finished the season fifth among all D1 programs in turnover percent differential (+6.4), ninth in turnover margin (+4.1), 11th in turnovers forced (505) and 14th in turnovers forced per game (16.3). Tarleton ranked second in the WAC in all four categories. Individually, Jones helped coach Shamir Bogues to the All-WAC Defensive Team - becoming the first player in program history to be selected to the All-Defensive Team.

Fast-forward to his third season on the staff; his defensive intensity helped lead Tarleton’s prolific defense to pace the WAC in steals (9.7 spg) and turnover margin (+5.68). That season, the Texans notched one of their best home records in school history, boasting a 12-2 record at TSU’s Wisdom Gym. That squad won its first nine home games, extending the win streak into February. Jones also helped guide the team to a pair of wins at the Paradise Jam and a runner-up finish for the first time in school history. For the second-straight season, Jones helped guide Bogues to the WAC All-Defensive Team, while Hicks also earned individual recognition as a second-team All-WAC selection.

After a standout prep career at Normangee High School, Jones played four years at Texas A&M under Gillespie and then Mark Turgeon, starting all 131 games of his college career, including every game Gillespie coached for the Aggies. Averaging 12.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg, he helped the team to a 95-37 with a trip to the NIT Quarterfinals, three NCAA Tournament Appearances, and an NCAA Sweet 16 berth in his four seasons in Aggieland. He was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2005 and was All-Big 12 for each of his four years (2005-08), garnering NABC All-District accolades in 2006, 2007 and 2008. He was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in the 2019 class.

Jones joined the Houston Rockets 2008 Summer League team before beginning his professional playing career overseas. In 2008, Jones signed with Le Havre in France and went on to play in France, Israel, Spain and Iran. Before joining the Texans and the college coaching ranks, Jones closed out his playing career with Santeros de Aguada in Puerto Rico (2019-20), where he won the BSN Championship in 2019.