Hankins Introduced As Basketball Coach

6/3/2015 3:32:00 PM

Tom Hankins

EDMOND (June 3) – Tom Hankins spent the majority of his first 20-plus years in coaching in Oklahoma until going to Southern Illinois in 2012, so the chance to return home was too much to pass up when Central Oklahoma athletic director Joe Muller offered him the head coaching post three weeks ago.

"I can't tell you how excited I am to be here," said Hankins before a large gathering of supporters and media in the Wantland Stadium suites Wednesday afternoon. "First of all I'd really to think Joe and (UCO President) Dr. Betz for this opportunity.

"One of my goals was to at one point to be a collegiate head coach at a program with great tradition and great history. And today I've obtained that goal."

Hankins was named UCO's 17^th men's basketball coach on May 14 and started his duties June 1. He spent the previous three years as associate head coach at SIU following a 15-year stint as assistant coach at Oral Roberts.

"The opportunity to come back to Oklahoma and the opportunity to live and raise a family in a great community like Edmond is invaluable," Hankins said. "I'm looking forward to a long, long career here at UCO. I'm ready to hit the ground running."

Hankins also talked about his coaching philosophy, which will include a heavy emphasis on defense.

"I'm an Oklahoma guy that was fortunate enough to have Coach Iba (legendary Oklahoma State coach Henry Iba) watch me practice in junior college," Hankins said. "Coach Iba was known for defense and rebounding and that's what we're going to hang our hat on.

"Defense wins championships. We're going to defend, rebound and take great shots every time."

A Tulsa native, Hankins graduated from Edison High School and played two years at both Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and Northeastern State. He had assistant coaching stops at Northwest Missouri, NEO, Frank Phillips College (Texas) and Tulsa East Central High School before serving one year as head coach at East Central.

Hankins went to ORU as assistant coach in 1997 and helped lead the Golden Eagles to five Summit League titles and three Division I national tournament appearances during a 15-year stint there prior to going to SIU.

Hankins replaces Terry Evans, who resigned April 17 to pursue other interests after going 263-124 during a 13-year career with the Bronchos.

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