Tom Asbury | |
Birth Date: | 14 July 1945 |
Birth Place: | Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
Player Years1: | 1964–1967 |
Player Team1: | Wyoming |
Player Positions: | Forward |
Coach Years1: | 1976–1979 |
Coach Team1: | Wyoming (assistant) |
Coach Years2: | 1979–1988 |
Coach Team2: | Pepperdine (assistant) |
Coach Years3: | 1988–1994 |
Coach Team3: | Pepperdine |
Coach Years4: | 1994–2000 |
Coach Team4: | Kansas State |
Coach Years5: | 2003–2007 |
Coach Team5: | Alabama (assistant) |
Coach Years6: | 2008–2011 |
Coach Team6: | Pepperdine |
Overall Record: | 453–238 |
Championships: | 3 WCC regular season (1991–1993) 3 WCC tournament (1991, 1992, 1994) |
Awards: | 2× WCC Coach of the Year (1991, 1992) |
Thomas Sydnor Asbury (born July 14, 1945) is a retired American men's college basketball coach. He spent two separate terms as head coach at Pepperdine University, retiring from that position in 2011. He was also a head coach for Kansas State University and served as an assistant coach at Pepperdine, the University of Wyoming (his alma mater), and the University of Alabama.
Asbury was an assistant coach at Pepperdine for nine seasons before succeeding Jim Harrick as head coach. Asbury was very successful in his first stint at Pepperdine, becoming the conference coach of the year twice and compiling a 125–59 record in his first six years. He took the Waves to the NCAA Tournament in 1991, 1992, and 1994, as well as two NIT appearances, three regular-season WCC titles, and three WCC Tournament championships.[1]
His success landed him the head coaching job at Kansas State University. He coached the Wildcats for six seasons, making the NCAA tournament once and the NIT tournament twice. However, his final season ended in 1999–2000 at Kansas State with a 9–19 record and a 2–14 conference record. He was fired and later returned to coaching as an assistant at the University of Alabama under former pupil Mark Gottfried. Mark Fox, the head coach at the University of California, is another former Asbury assistant, having coached with him at Kansas State.
Asbury came out of retirement to coach Pepperdine for a second time prior to the 2008–09 season. After three more seasons, on March 11, 2011, Asbury announced his retirement, turning the Pepperdine program over to assistant Marty Wilson.[2] In October 2012, Asbury was inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame.[3]