April 7, 2009

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Pastner Bio in PDF Format

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis introduced Josh Pastner as its new men's basketball head coach in a Tuesday press conference held on campus. Director of Athletics R.C. Johnson named Pastner Memphis' head coach late Monday afternoon, and on Tuesday, he made the announcement to Tiger Nation.

Pastner is the 17th head coach in Memphis basketball history.

The 31-year-old Pastner came to Memphis as an assistant coach in May 2008, and in only his first season as an assistant on the staff in 2008-09, Pastner helped the Tigers continue their rarefied success. This past year, Memphis continued its magical ride with a 33-4 overall record and another perfect 16-0 mark in the Conference USA regular season -- the program's third-straight year of perfection in league play. The Tigers entered the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 on a school-record 27-game win streak, also the longest in the nation. This past year's Sweet 16 appearance was the program's fourth straight, tying a school mark.

Memphis made it another sweep of the C-USA crowns, winning the league's tournament for a fourth-consecutive season. The Tigers also jumped into the top five of both national polls, reaching as high as the No. 2 spot. Memphis finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the final Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

The Tigers won 30 games for a fourth-straight year (2006-09), becoming the first school in NCAA Division I history to accomplish the feat. In 2007-08, Memphis was the second school in NCAA history to have three-straight 30-win seasons. Kentucky was the first to do so from 1947-49 and 1996-98. UCLA joined the elite group later in 2007-08.

In Pastner's first year, the Tigers extended their Conference USA win streak to an impressive 61-straight games (regular season and tournament), which is the second-longest streak of its kind in NCAA Division I history. The 1945-50 Kentucky teams have the longest conference win streak in NCAA history at 64 straight. For regular season games only, the Tigers' C-USA streak is at 49 straight, and that is the second-longest in NCAA history to UCLA's 50 straight from 1970-74.

The Kingwood, Texas, native joined the Tiger program as an assistant in May 2008 at the time of the most successful run in school history. The previous three years, Memphis was the winningest program in NCAA Division I with 104 victories (104-10 record) and advanced to the 2008 NCAA championship game and 2006 and 2007 NCAA Elite Eights. The Tigers won over 30 games all three seasons -- including an NCAA record 38 victories in 2007-08 -- and swept the Conference USA regular season and tournament titles, posting an incredible 54-1 mark against league foes over that span of time.

Since 2005-06, the Tigers have been a mainstay in the national polls. Memphis has reached the top five in both national polls each of the last four years (2006-09). In 2007-08, Memphis made school history with its climb to the No. 1 spot in both national polls and remained there for a program-record, five-straight weeks.

Pastner came to Memphis after a successful six-year stint as an assistant coach on Hall of Famer Lute Olson's staff at the University of Arizona. From 2003-08, Arizona averaged nearly 23 wins per season (137-60 record; .695 winning percentage), captured two Pac-10 regular season championships (2003, 2005) and advanced to two NCAA Tournament regional finals (2003, 2005). The Wildcats earned NCAA Tournament berths in each of Pastner's six seasons as an assistant coach.

Pastner, who was with the Arizona program as a player, administrator and coach since 1996, was a key cog in the Wildcats' recruiting efforts and working with the program's big men.

In his six seasons as an assistant in Tucson, Pastner's tireless efforts on the recruiting trail paid big dividends, as the Wildcats continued to successfully recruit top-notch student-athletes. Arizona's recruiting classes were among the best nationally in each of his six seasons as an assistant. In June of 2005, Rivals.com's Chris Wallace named Pastner one of college basketball's top 25 recruiters, writing, "Any list of top recruiters must include Pastner." In May 2008, FoxSports.com rated Pastner as the No. 7 high-major recruiter in the country. And just recently, Basketball Times named Pastner the No. 5 assistant coach in the country in the publication's April 2009 issue.

Pastner's hard work is not only seen on the recruiting trail, but also on the court as evidenced by the outstanding play of Arizona's frontline. Former Wildcat All-Americans Luke Walton and Channing Frye each flourished under Pastner's tutelage. Both showed marked improvement each season under Pastner, eventually turning themselves into NBA draft picks -- Walton a second-round pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2003 and Frye a first-round pick of the New York Knicks in 2005.

Pastner's efforts were also evident in the progress of current Wildcat Jordan Hill. An unheralded recruit when he entered the program in 2006, Hill blossomed into one of the finest big men in the Pac-10 Conference, posting averages of 13.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots per game to go with a .620 field goal percentage in 2007-08.

During his time at Arizona, Pastner was also involved in a wealth of charitable organizations, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson, Boy Scouts of America, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Naval Special Warfare Foundation, Special Olympics and various local law enforcement support groups to name a few. His charitable efforts got him named to the Tucson Business Edge's "40 Under 40" list for 2007. The honor recognizes local business leaders under 40 years of age. The annual list not only recognizes recipients for professional success, but community involvement, public service and participation in trade groups or professional organizations.

In the 2001-02 season, Pastner served as the team's video and recruiting coordinator, as well as an administrative assistant. In that role, he oversaw the team's video room and assisted in film editing, as designated by the coaching staff. Pastner coordinated all recruiting mailings and assisted in monitoring the academic progress of the program's student-athletes. He filled the coaching vacancy left when former assistant Jay John left to become the head coach at Oregon State. Pastner assumed his full-time assistant coach responsibilities on Apr. 10, 2002.

Pastner made the step up from the playing ranks to the coaching world in June 2000 when he was named an undergraduate assistant coach for Arizona. Pastner, who played for the Wildcats from 1996-2000, had similar duties as the three assistant coaches, but could not go on the road to recruit.

Pastner played in 42 games as a Wildcat and finished his career with an average of 0.9 ppg. The Wildcats were 42-0 in the games in which he appeared.

Despite his lack of playing time, Pastner's presence in the Arizona program was invaluable, performing many of the small "behind-the-scenes" things that helped the team win the 1997 NCAA championship and two Pac-10 titles (1998, 2000) during his career. Pastner helped break down game tapes and scout opponents, and he was the shot specialist for many of the Wildcat players. In his 12 overall years with the program, Arizona had a 290-103 record (.738 winning percentage).

Pastner earned his bachelor's degree in Family Studies from Arizona in December 1998, two-and-a-half years after enrolling, the fastest an Arizona student-athlete has ever earned a degree. He finished his master's in Teaching and Teacher Education in December 1999 before beginning work on his doctorate. In his role as an undergraduate assistant in 2000-01, Pastner began pursuit of another undergraduate degree.

Despite taking as many as 33 units a semester while at Arizona, Pastner maintained a high grade-point average, was nominated for the CoSIDA/GTE Academic All-America team and was named to the Academic All-Pac-10 second team as a senior in 2000.

While a high school and college athlete, Pastner began his career as a coach on the AAU circuit. He led the Houston Hoops, a select all-star team from that area, to the 1999 Nike National Summer Championship in San Diego. Pastner also led the Houston Hoops to the Global World Championship in the summer of 2000.