By Tyler Mayforth
San Marcos — When the 2008-09 season ended, Texas State head men’s basketball coach Doug Davalos was left searching for answers.
Two members of his coaching staff left (Jamon Copeland and Russel Vanlandingham) and another soon followed (Omar Lowery). Davalos was left with three vacancies in a short period of time.
Davalos needed help and recently hired Rob Flaska and Terrence Rencher to fill two of the three slots.
“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,” Davalos said. “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.”
The Bobcats finished the 2008-09 season 14-16 overall and 7-9 in Southland Conference action. Texas State gained a berth in the SLC tournament, but lost in the first round to Nicholls State.
During the season, the Bobcats ran into problems on and off the court.
Texas State was horribly inconsistent on the hardwood, either putting together long winning streaks (five games) or losing streaks (three and five games). The Bobcats won four out of their last six games to reach the SLC tournament, but lost five consecutive games to begin conference play.
Off the court, Texas State struggled.
First, the Bobcats lost Emmanuel Bidias A’ Moute to academic probation. Texas State then lost two players (Gordon Taylor and Tre Nichols) when they quit the team. Sophomore center Ty Gough transferred from the program, not long after the season ended.
Rencher’s hiring should remedy the second problem — player discipline and retention.
“My strengths are still being able to relate to the players,” Rencher said. “I’m learning how to recruit and how to be a good coach, but right now, with the guys that are the program, I know what they’re going through.”
Rencher will also be able to help the Bobcats’ guard-oriented team.
The first-year coach starred on the Texas Longhorns and played eight seasons professionally. He assumed any role asked of him during his playing days (lock-down defender, 3-point specialist, etc.), so he can pass on his deep wisdom to the current players.
“Since I was a guard, I can help them learn to be more efficient with their movement,” Rencher said. “With the style of play we play here, sometimes the mental part gets lost since you’re transitioning so much. I want to help them focus on the games within the games.”
Flaska, on the other hand, will bring time-honored experience and help the recruiting of future Texas State players.
Before he was hired by the Bobcats, Flaska was an assistant at Texas Southern, but did spend three years as a head coach at Centerary.
He also coached at Texas Christian and Arkansas, where he helped recruiting two-fold. One of Flaska’s signing classes with the Razorbacks was ranked fourth in the nation.
“You usually don’t want to hire two or three coaches in the same year,” Davalos said, “but the guys that we’re getting, I’m really excited.”
