STEPHENVILLE – New Tarleton women’s basketball head coach Bill Brock has finalized the majority of his staff, adding respected coaching veterans Larry Tidwell and Geoff Golden as assistant coaches and Ashleigh DeBoue as the program’s new director of basketball operations.
“I am so excited to welcome Larry, Geoff and Ashleigh to the Texan family,” Brock said. “They bring extensive experience and immediate recognition to our women’s basketball program throughout the country. Their individual strengths will help us develop an outstanding program for the Stephenville community and Tarleton State University.”
Tidwell joins the Texans as an assistant coach, where he will lead recruiting efforts and development of the post players. He brings to Stephenville a 47-year coaching resume, including seven stops as a head coach.
“I’m very, very grateful to Tarleton State University Athletics and head coach Bill Brock for this opportunity to coach women’s basketball for the Texans,” Tidwell said. “I have a firm belief that an athletic program is only as good as the administration wants it to be, and at Tarleton State, complete support starts with our outstanding president Dr. James Hurley and First Lady Kindall Hurley. Next, Athletic Director Lonn Reisman and all of his support staff are second to none.
“In Coach Brock, the Texans have a proven winner,” Tidwell added. “No question, I will bleed purple each and everyday for every program on campus, with an emphasis on women’s basketball as we intend to create ‘Purple Reign’ in our conference. It’s a great day to be a Tarleton State Texan.”
Tidwell most recently spent a season at Louisiana-Monroe as Chief of Staff for the women’s basketball program. There he oversaw recruiting and scouting, plus development of coaches and staff members among several other duties.
Tidwell has been involved in coaching collegiate basketball for 30 years, 28 spent at the NCAA Division I level. He’s served as head coach for six seasons at Lamar (2007-13), head coach for five seasons at UTRGV (2013-18), associate head coach for eight seasons at TCU (1999-2007), associate head coach for one season at Kansas (2019-20), assistant coach for six seasons at Baylor (1992-98), and chief of staff for a season apiece at Texas Tech (2018-19) and ULM (2022-23). He also served as head coach at Dallas Christian College (2020-22) for two seasons.
The six-time Hall of Famer has also served four stints as a head coach at the prep level. He was the head coach for eight seasons at Schulenburg HS (1984-92), the head coach and AD for seven seasons at Frisco HS (1976-83), the head coach for one season at Mexia HS (1998-99) and the head coach for one season at Lexington HS (1983-84).
Tidwell is one of five to be the winningest head coach at two different NCAA Division I institutions, winning 128 games at Lamar and 85 games at UTRGV. The other four are Gary Blair (Texas A&M and Arkansas), Chris Gobrecht (Washington and Yale), Jane Albright (Northern Illinois and Wisconsin), and Rick Pietri (South Alabama and Jacksonville State).
Throughout his coaching career, Tidwell has directed and organized over 200 basketball camps and clinics, plus has traveled to 40 countries to promote the game. He volunteered for the Naismith Foundation in which he helped grow the game and fundraise for eight years.
Tidwell has helped “turn around” several programs upon arrival. At Dallas Christian, the Crusaders had not had a winning season since 2004-05, and in Tidwell’s first year, they went 15-10. In his lone season at Kansas, he helped the Jayhawks to their best record in seven seasons. UTRGV had 30 consecutive losing seasons prior to Tidwell’s arrival and were a game away from going .500 in his first year, his only losing season in 22 years as a head coach. At Baylor, the Lady Bears had seven consecutive losing seasons and an RPI of 312 prior to Tidwell’s arrival in Waco. As the first full-time assistant in the history of the program, he helped guide the Lady Bears to the WNIT.
The Sanger, Texas, native, has been inducted into six Hall of Fames; the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2022, the Lamar University Hall of Fame in 2022, the Austin College Hall of Fame in 2014 for his career achievements, the Austin College Hall of Fame in 2010 for coaching, the Austin College Hall of Fame in 2004 for playing, and the Sanger High School Hall of Fame in 2003 for playing. He has also won numerous awards, most notably the TABC NCAA Division I Women’s Coach of the Year twice in 2015 and 2010.
Golden joins the Tarleton WBB program as an assistant coach, where he will lead the development efforts of guards, plus assist in recruiting.
“I am honored and extremely grateful for the opportunity to be a Tarleton Texan and serve alongside Coach Brock,” Golden said. “He is a proven winner, a man of integrity, and has a championship vision for this program. I’m very excited to be a part of this wonderful university and my family and I are looking forward to making Stephenville our home.”
Golden owns an extensive coaching resume covering the professional, collegiate, prep and developmental ranks over the past 20-plus years.
He was most recently the head coach at Central Arizona College this past season, where he led the program to 16 wins and coached three ACCAC All-Conference performers and one NJCAA All-American.
Golden has spent two years coaching at the NCAA Division I level, one at Northern Colorado (2021-22) as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, the other as an assistant coach at Montana State (2020-21). In Bozeman, he helped the Bobcats to a 17-13 overall record (13-3 Big Sky) while helping develop four All-Big Sky Conference performers.
Besides his collegiate coaching career, Golden has also coached internationally with BK RIG Mark Academy and Mark Basket of the Svenska Basketligan Dam in Kinna, Sweden. He was also the player development coach for the Colorado 14ers of the NBA Development League and spent four seasons coaching high school boy’s basketball at Broomfield HS and Legacy HS in Colorado.
In 2010, Golden founded Basketball Club Denver (BC Denver), where for 10 years he built a strong national reputation and had what was considered the top developmental basketball academy in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. In 2018 BC Denver was selected as one of 36 programs nationwide to become a charter member of the inaugural Girls Under Armour Association. BC Denver assisted in the development and consultation of over 100-plus athletes who committed to continuing their education and basketball career at the collegiate level.
Golden, a Durant, Oklahoma, native, returns to Texas for the first time since playing two seasons at Texas State from 1995-97. He helped the Bobcats to the 1997 Southland Conference Championship and a berth into the 1997 NCAA Tournament.
DeBoue joins the Texans as their new director of basketball operations after spending a season in the same role at Syracuse in 2021-22.
“I’m so excited to have the opportunity to work with some excellent basketball minds and help this program reach new heights,” DeBoue said. “I want to thank Coach Brock for inviting me to join him in Stephenville and I can’t wait to get started.”
Brock and DeBoue worked together at Baylor, where Brock was the associate head coach and DeBoue was a student manager for the team for four years. DeBoue is a McKinney, Texas, native.
Tarleton will announce their finalized staff at a later date.
Be the first to comment