Leon Rice
Postgame interview in 2016
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamBoise State
ConferenceMountain West
Record279–159 (.637)
Biographical details
Born (1963-11-25) November 25, 1963
Richland, Washington, U.S.
Alma materWashington State ('86)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1989–1992Oregon (assistant)
1992–1994Northern Colorado (assistant)
1996–1998Yakima Valley CC (assistant)
1998–1999Yakima Valley CC
1999–2010Gonzaga (assistant)
2010–presentBoise State
Head coaching record
Overall279–159 (.637)
Tournaments0–4 (NCAA Division I)
2–3 (NIT)
2–1 (CBI)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards
  • 2× MWC Coach of the Year (2015, 2022)

Leon Paul Rice (born November 25, 1963) is an American college basketball coach, and the head men's basketball coach at Boise State University of the Mountain West Conference. He replaced Greg Graham as head coach of the Broncos on March 26, 2010.[1]

In his first season, Rice led Boise State to the finals of the WAC tournament and to the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational. He is the first Boise State head coach to win twenty games in two of his first three seasons and has twenty or more wins in nine of his twelve years. In 2013, he guided the Broncos to their first ever at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. In 2015, he led the Broncos to their only Mountain West regular season championship, Boise State's first conference title since 2008, and was named the MWC coach of the year. On February 13, 2021, Rice became the winningest head coach in Boise State history with his 214th victory.

Previously an assistant coach at Gonzaga for eleven seasons, Rice was newly promoted head coach Mark Few's first outside hire in July 1999.[2][3] He is cited by Few as being instrumental to the Bulldogs' current and past success. According to Few, Rice occasionally created stories about what opposing student sections were saying about Gonzaga star Adam Morrison in order to pump him up prior to games.

On May 5, 2022, Coach Leon Rice was named as an assistant coach for Team USA[4] and helped lead them to the 2022 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Boise State Broncos (Western Athletic Conference) (2010–2011)
2010–11 Boise State 22–1310–62ndCBI semifinals
Boise State Broncos (Mountain West Conference) (2011–present)
2011–12 Boise State 13–173–11T–7th
2012–13 Boise State 21–119–7T–4thNCAA Division I First Four
2013–14 Boise State 21–139–9T–5th
2014–15 Boise State 25–914–4T–1stNCAA Division I First Four
2015–16 Boise State 20–1211–73rd
2016–17 Boise State 20–1212–63rdNIT second round
2017–18 Boise State 23–913–52ndNIT first round
2018–19 Boise State 13–207–11T–7th
2019–20 Boise State 20–1211–7T–5th
2020–21 Boise State 19–914–64thNIT quarterfinal
2021–22 Boise State 27–815–31stNCAA Division I Round of 64
2022–23 Boise State 24–1013–5T-2ndNCAA Division I Round of 64
2023–24 Boise State 11–42–0
Boise State: 279–159 (.637)143–87 (.622)
Total:279–159 (.637)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Personal

Born in Richland, Washington, Rice graduated from Columbia Basin College, a junior college where he played football,[5] followed by Washington State University in Pullman in 1986 with a degree in physical education. He later earned a master's in athletic administration from the University of Oregon in Eugene.[3]

Rice and his wife, Robin, have three boys together, Brock, Max, and Kade. The eldest, Brock, completed his freshman basketball season at Northwest Christian University, where he averaged 5.1 points off the bench for the Bearcats. Max is a Graduate Student, playing for his dad at Boise State, as well as Kade who is currently playing his redshirt freshman year.

References

  1. ↑ "Boise State hires Rice as new basketball coach". 26 March 2010.
  2. ↑ "Yakima coach joins GU men's staff". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). July 31, 1999. p. C6.
  3. 1 2 "Leon Rice named men's basketball coach". Gonzaga University Athletics. July 30, 1999. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Leon Rice". Archived from the original on May 28, 2022.
  5. ↑ Moss, Tony (March 15, 2022). "Ranking 2022 NCAA tournament men's basketball coaches as players, 1-68". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 15, 2022.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.