HCU’s Ron Cottrell is the second-longest tenured coach among active NCAA Division I head men’s basketball coaches, heading into his 33nd season leading the Huskies with a career record of 518-491. He led the Huskies back to the NCAA Division I ranks after 16 seasons building a perennial power at the NAIA Division I level, and now leads them into season 10 in the Southland Conference. In addition to his coaching duties, Cottrell has assumed the role of associate director of athletics after spending 16 years as director of athletics at HCU. He was one of the driving forces, working closely with HCU President Robert B. Sloan, in the Huskies’ transition to the NCAA.
Cottrell secured his 500th career win during the 2021-22 season when the Huskies defeated Champion Christian 84-67 on Dec. 7, 2021. He guided his team to an 11-18 overall record with a mark of 6-8 in conference play. The Huskies played the highest-scoring game of the NCAA season in the regular season finale against McNeese, winning 149-144 in four overtimes. That game was the highest-scoring NCAA Division I game in history that did not involve Loyola Marymount and U.S. International. HCU then reached the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament for the second-straight season. Senior Darius Lee was an all-SLC selection while Zion Tordoff received academic all-conference honors.
In 2020-21, Cottrell guided the Huskies through the covid-19 affected season and to the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament. In 2019-20, he coached his first Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year in junior Ian DuBose, who also earned second team All-SLC honors. Off the court, seven players were named to the NABC Honors Court to bring the program’s count of NABC academic honorees over the last four seasons to 18. In 2018-19 he led the Huskies to their third Southland Conference tournament berth in a four season span with HCU closing the year with a 12-18 overall record and an 8-10 mark in SLC play. The Huskies earned the program’s first win over an ACC opponent, defeating Wake Forest on the road in overtime, 93-91. DuBose earned second team all-conference honors as the lone underclassman on the team recognized by the SLC.
In 2017-18, Cottrell coached the program’s first SLC Freshman of the Year, one season removed from leading the Huskies to their best season yet at the Division I level, finishing 17-14 overall and tying for second in the Southland at 12-6. HCU closed out the 2016-17 regular season with a nine-game winning streak, en route to the No. 4 seed in the SLC tournament and earned its second-consecutive postseason berth, playing in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. HCU placed three players on the SLC All-Conference team with Colter Lasher, Josh Ibarra and Reveal Chukwujekwu all earning second team honors. Additionally, Chukwujekwu and Lasher were both named Academic All-SLC, making HCU the only school with multiple All-Academic selections. The Huskies also placed four players (Lasher, Chukwujekwu, Braxton Bonds and Will Gates Jr.) on the NABC Honors Court, with just three additional players receiving that recognition from the other 12 schools in the conference.
In 2015-16, HCU went 17-17 overall, earning the fourth seed in the SLC Tournament with a 10-8 league mark. The Huskies also made the program’s first NCAA postseason appearance since 1984, competing in the College Basketball Invitational. Senior guard Anthony Odunsi was a first-team all-conference selection, while sophomore center Josh Ibarra earned honorable mention. The Huskies went on a 10-game winning streak from Dec. 29 to Jan. 30, winning their first eight league contests. HCU then recorded its first conference tournament victory with a 73-68 win over Southeastern Louisiana in the quarterfinals.
In the 2014-15 season, Cottrell led the Huskies to a 12-16 overall record and 7-11 mark in Southland play, doubling the team’s overall win total from 2013-14 and winning five more league games. At the conclusion of the season, Odunsi was named SLC honorable mention, the program’s first player honor since joining the league, while Ibarra ranked 49th in the nation with 2.04 blocks per game, fifth among all freshmen. Ibarra also finished tied for 18th among freshmen and ninth in the Southland with 6.5 rebounds per game.
Cottrell guided the Huskies to a 14-17 record in 2012-13 and an appearance in the Great West Conference championship game to close out HCU’s affiliation with the league. After starting the season 4-13 with his young roster, Cottrell’s squad won 10 of its last 13 games, including an eight-game winning streak from Jan. 22-Feb. 25. Senior forward Art Bernardi earned first-team all-conference honors, senior guard Anthony Hill was named conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year and freshman guard Rob Lewis was voted the league’s Sixth Man of the Year. Lewis, sophomore guard Marcel Smith and freshman guard Caleb Crayton also earned all-conference honorable mention.
The Huskies entered a new era during the 2009-10 season, as they began their first season of Great West Conference play. HCU went 9-3 in the league, finishing second during the regular season and advancing to the championship game of the conference tournament. Four players earned all-conference recognition, including first team selections Gonzalez and Mario Flaherty. Gonzalez was the league’s leading scorer and was named Newcomer of the Year.
Gonzalez once again led the Great West in scoring during the 2010- 11 season to earn first-team all-conference honors. He averaged 22.9 points per game, the sixth-highest scoring average in the nation and second-highest in HCU history. Michael Moss was named Great West Conference Defensive Player of the Year and was an all-conference honorable mention pick after leading the lead with 2.8 steals per game, which was also the sixth-highest average nationally.
During the 2011-12 season, Cottrell solidified his place as HCU’s all-time winningest basketball coach as HCU defeated Campbell, 87-76, on Dec. 14, 2011, for the head coach’s 400th career victory. Freshman guard Tyler Russell was named to the Great West All-Newcomer Team and was joined in all-conference honorable mention accolades by seniors Terry Bembry and Joe Latas.
During the NAIA years, the Huskies won nine consecutive Red River Athletic Conference championships and competed in the NAIA national tournament 10 straight years. He built the basketball program into one of national prominence, perennially ranked in the NAIA Top 25, and finishing the season as one of the NAIA’s top 10 teams six times.
In 2002-03, Cottrell led the Huskies to a 31-3 record and ended the season as the NAIA’s top-ranked team, a ranking the Huskies held onto for the final five weeks of the season. After that history-making season, Cottrell was chosen as the Basketball Times NAIA National Coach of the Year. That season also boasted the Huskies as the national scoring and rebounding leader, scoring 100.4 points per game and bettering their opponents by a margin of 13 rebounds per game. It was the second straight year the Huskies led the NAIA in rebounding and the third time in the previous eight seasons that HCU led the nation in scoring.
HCU again led the nation in rebounding two years later, out-rebounding their opponents by 10.2 boards per game in 2004-05. In that season, Cottrell reached another milestone in his successful career, posting his 300th career win.
Cottrell is known for his up-tempo offense and pressure defense, a philosophy he learned from his mentor, former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson. As an assistant to Richardson at Arkansas, Cottrell helped coach the Razorbacks to two Southwest Conference championships and three trips to the NCAA tournament, culminating in the Hogs appearance at the 1990 NCAA Final Four where they lost to Duke in the semifinals. During Cottrell’s tenure on the bench at Arkansas, the Razorbacks posted a record of 88-36.
In 2017, Cottrell received the Yvonne Richardson Memorial Foundation Award of Distinction, presented to him at the 2017 Nolan Richardson Charity Golf Tournament. Prior to joining Richardson’s staff as an assistant coach, Cottrell spent a year as an assistant at North Dakota State College of Science before returning to Arkansas, his alma mater.
Cottrell knows the Houston area, having graduated from Houston’s Westbury High School. He returned to his native Arkansas to attain a degree in industrial engineering. While attending the University of Arkansas, Cottrell served as sports director for Fayetteville, Ark., ABC affiliate KTVP-TV before entering the coaching profession.
When Cottrell was hired to lead the HCU program in the fall of 1990, Cottrell spent the second year of the Huskies’ self-imposed basketball hiatus putting the program together, recruiting and scheduling before beginning play in the 1991-92 season.
The first season, the Huskies posted a 7-23 record. It was a season of growing pains for Cottrell and his young team. He had formed his base with freshmen, and although they took their lumps, it paid off in the long run. By the time those freshmen were seniors, they had made the playoffs three straight years and fell just three points shy of making it to the NAIA national tournament. After seven-and-a-half years as the HCU coach, Cottrell broke the school’s coaching record for wins during the 1998-99 season, a record previously held by Gene Iba after an eight-year tenure. The 1997-98 Huskies had a school record 22-game winning streak and a school-best 26-6 record, only to be exceeded by the 1999-2000 team with a 28-6 record. In 2000-01, the Huskies again rewrote the record books with a 31-5 record.
HCU tied the school record for wins and set a new low for losses with the 2002-03 team’s 31-3 mark and broke the record for consecutive wins with 25. In 2003-04, the Huskies saw a 60-game home winning streak come to an end, ending the nation’s longest active home winning streak for a men’s team. That team went on to finish the year with a 27-6 record.
The Huskies had at least one basketball player receive All-America honors each season during a span of 13 seasons and Cottrell has coached athletes to All-America accolades 20 times, including the 2002-03 Basketball Times NAIA National Player of the Year, Rod Nealy. In addition, the Huskies have had recipients of All-Conference honors 42 times under Cottrell.
In conjunction with the Huskies’ on-court success, Cottrell stresses excellence in the classroom as well. For his tenure, he holds an 85 percent graduation rate, as six players have received Academic All-America honors and 55 have garnered Academic All-Conference accolades. Cottrell was named Red River Athletic Conference Coach of the Year five times. He also has twice been awarded the Houston Area High School Boys Basketball Coaches’ College Coach of the Year and he received what he regards as one of his highest honors in the summer of 2006 when he was selected by USA Basketball to serve as a court coach for the gold-medal winning 18U USA team.
With Cottrell at the helm as Athletics Director, the Huskies won 42 conference championships and had teams compete in national tournaments 35 times. HCU won eight Red River Athletic Conference all-sports awards in the nine-year history of the RRAC. HCU produced 99 All-America honorees, 65 academic All-America athletes and 241 All-Conference performers during his tenure.
He was honored for his leadership as the 2001 recipient of the NAIA Region VI athletic director of the year award. He is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association.
Cottrell was one of six members of the 2012 HCU Sports Hall of Honor class, recognizing his many contributions to the University as both a coach and administrator.
Cottrell is married to the former Jacque George, who served as director of media relations at HBU and also worked in the media relations office at the Great West Conference, Southwest Conference and the sports information office at the University of Arkansas. They have two daughters: Scottlyn Rose, a graduate of HBU and now a Learning Specialist / Academic Advisor in the athletic department at Oklahoma University, and Sydney-Anne, a former basketball player and graduate of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who is now an assistant women’s basketball coach for the University of Alabama. He also serves as a deacon at Sugar Land Baptist Church.
