San Marcos — Terrence Rencher wants to let you know he’s ready to be a coach.

You might know Rencher from his playing days at the University of Texas. Rencher’s name is still at the top of the Longhorns’ record books, as the all-time leading scorer (2,306 points).

He averaged 18.6 points per game during his collegiate career and dished 440 assists. Rencher continued playing professionally both in the National Basketball Association (one year) and overseas.

While his accolades are numerous, the new Texas State assistant basketball coach wants to put it behind him.

“I know I played at UT and had a professional career and it helped, but I want to be a coach,” Rencher said. “That’s nice to be recognized as a player, but I want to start being recognized and lauded for my coaching abilities.”

Although Rencher doesn’t want to speak about his playing days, he might need to — Bobcat head coach Doug Davalos may require it.

Davalos found out from Rencher’s college coach (Rick Barnes) that getting him to boast may be a tough task.

“All the people I talked to had nothing but positive things to say about him,” Davalos said. “The greatest comment was from Coach Barnes. He told me, ‘He’s our all-time leading scorer and you would never know that by talking to him.’ I think he should do it a little bit more because our kids need to know that. But, it shows that he’s a guy who’s not full of himself.”

Rencher isn’t afraid to adapt.

He assimilated into five different cultures while playing professionally in Europe (Croatia, Greece, Germany, Israel and Italy) and took over numerous roles (pass-first guard, lockdown defender, etc.) while at UT.

Rencher feels he’ll be the biggest asset to the Bobcat coaching staff with his knowledge on the defensive end. He collected 255 steals while with the Longhorns and helped guide the last team he coached (Saint Louis) to defensive prominence.

“We were ranked very high in both team and 3-point defense at St. Louis and I feel I learned a lot from Coach (Rick) Majerus,” Rencher said. “Not only that, but I learned how much time you need to put into the job and how much detail you need to apply to it.”

Rencher still has a lot to learn (coaching wise) as this is only his second gig.

He played eight professional seasons before hanging up his sneakers and taking to the bench. Majerus and Saint Louis hired Rencher as a senior graduate manager last year.

While Rencher was happy in Saint Louis, he yearned to return to central Texas. He’s well-known in the area and has a well-developed social network.

Rencher learned of the opening at Texas State from a former teammate at UT, who currently is overseas coaching professionally.

“Joey Wright, who had been coaching in Australia, told me he had an opportunity to take one of the coaching vacancies here,” Rencher said. “He decided to stay in Australia, but he let me know about it. I placed a few calls and my name ended up in the mix.”

Rencher’s position wouldn’t have been available unless there was turnover within the Texas State coaching staff.

After the 2008-09 season ended, Russell Vanlandingham and Jamon Copeland left the program to accept head coaching positions elsewhere. Davalos hired Rob Flaska in early June to fill one void and scooped up Rencher as soon as he could.

“This staff is a really good staff,” Davalos said. “As a coach, you try to identify what your weaknesses are as a coach, and not too many people in the world try to address their own weaknesses. I try to get guys that can help our program get better that can do some of the things I don’t want to do or some of the things that I need people to do.”

Flaska will help with the scouting of future players, as before he was recruiting coordinator at Arkansas. He put together a signing class that was ranked fourth in the nation.

Rencher, on the other hand, will be of most use to players currently in the program. He’s been in their shoes and knows what it takes to be a student-athlete on the highest level.

“The respect factor he’ll have from day one in our program will be very high,” Davalos said. “He’s played both in the NBA and overseas, but that time is over now. He’s not Terrence Rencher the basketball player any more. He’s a young coach that’s going to grow into a very good coach with experience.”