| Steve McClain | |
| Current Title: | Assistant Coach |
| Current Team: | Texas |
| Current Conference: | SEC |
| Birth Date: | 15 August 1962 |
| Birth Place: | Orient, Iowa, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Chadron State |
| Coach Years1: | 1982–1984 |
| Coach Team1: | Chadron State (asst.) |
| Coach Years2: | 1984 |
| Coach Team2: | Sioux Empire JC (asst.) |
| Coach Years3: | 1985 |
| Coach Team3: | Independence CC (asst.) |
| Coach Years4: | 1986–1991 |
| Coach Team4: | Hutchinson CC (asst.) |
| Coach Years5: | 1991–1994 |
| Coach Team5: | Hutchinson CC |
| Coach Years6: | 1994–1998 |
| Coach Team6: | TCU (asst.) |
| Coach Years7: | 1998–2007 |
| Coach Team7: | Wyoming |
| Coach Years8: | 2007–2010 |
| Coach Team8: | Colorado (asst.) |
| Coach Years9: | 2010–2015 |
| Coach Team9: | Indiana (asst.) |
| Coach Years10: | 2015–2020 |
| Coach Team10: | UIC |
| Coach Team11: | Georgia (asst.) |
| Coach Years11: | 2020–2022 |
| Coach Team12: | Texas (asst.) |
| Coach Years12: | 2022–present |
| Overall Record: | 324–224 |
| Tournament Record: | 1–1 (NCAA Division I) 2–3 (NIT) 2–1 (CBI) 3–1 (CIT) |
| Championships: | NJCAA Division I tournament (1994) 2 KJCCC regular season (1993, 1994) 2 MWC regular season (2001, 2002) |
| Awards: | MWC Coach of the Year (2002) |
Steven James McClain (born August 15, 1962) is an assistant basketball coach at Texas. He was most recently head coach at the University of Illinois Chicago.[1] Prior to UIC, he had spent five seasons on the staff of Tom Crean at Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team.
McClain was the head basketball coach at Hutchinson CC from 1991 to 1994. While there, they won a NJCAA national championship during the 1993–94 season. His overall record at Hutchinson was 91–16.
McClain was the head basketball coach at Wyoming from 1998 to 2007. In four out of his 9 seasons, Wyoming had made it to either the NCAA tournament, or the NIT tournament. His overall record at Wyoming was 157–115. However, after a disappointing 2006 campaign where he went 17–15, with no postseason berth, he was fired. In the 2002 NCAA tournament, Wyoming made it to the second round, which was their best finish since 1987. He was named the MWC coach of the year that season.
Steve McClain was known for his very animated and intense coaching style during games.
His teams have won two regular season conference championships. In six out of the 8 seasons he has coached in the MWC, at least one of his players has received First team All MWC honors. From 2000 to 2002, the Cowboys won at least 20 games in all three of their seasons, marking the first time that happened in two decades.
McClain parted ways with UIC after five seasons on March 13, 2020 after a 18–17 season that fell 1 win short of an NCAA tournament bid.[2] [3]
As an assistant at Colorado, McClain served as acting head coach during the absence of head coach Jeff Bzdelik for a portion of the 2009–10 season. He helped lead the Buffaloes to a 15–16 record, with seven of those losses coming by six points or less. While at Texas, McClain was a part of the Longhorns Big-12 Tournament Championship as well as an Elite-8 finish in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
On April 22, 2020, Georgia announced the hiring of McClain as an assistant coach, reuniting him with Tom Crean who was the head coach at Indiana where McClain was the assistant for the 2010–15 seasons.[4]