University of Texas Arlington Athletics

A veteran on the UT Arlington men’s basketball sidelines for more than a decade, Greg Young was named the ninth head coach in program history on Apr. 5, 2021.
 
A 35-year coaching veteran with deep Lone Star State roots, Young was in his 14th season with UTA in 2022-23 before being relieved on Feb. 10, 2023. He had previously served as an assistant (2009-13), associate (2013-21) or head (2021-22) coach for the program.
 
In Young’s 13+ seasons with the Mavericks, UTA went 239-199 (.546) and advanced to the postseason four times: 2012 NIT, 2013 CIT, 2016 CIT and 2017 NIT. The Mavs were Southland Conference regular-season champions in 2011-12, reached the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship game in 2013 and earned the Sun Belt Conference regular season title in 2017. Additionally, UTA went to back-to-back Sun Belt Tournament championship games in 2018 and 2019.

Despite not coaching the final seven games of the 2022-23 season (six regular-season contests), UTA finished the year with two NET Quad 2 victories to tie a single-year program record. The Mavs also had two road wins over NCAA Tournament teams from 2021-22: 66-55 at New Mexico State on Jan. 14 and 68-63 at San Francisco on Dec. 19.

UTA finished the year ranked 18th nationally in offensive rebounds per game at 12.7. Individually, Shemar Wilson was 9th in the country with 3.6 offensive boards per contest. Additionally, Chendall Weaver was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year – UTA's first league Freshman of the Year since Roge’r Guignard claimed the Southland Conference’s award in 2007.

In 2021-22, Young completed his first season at the helm of a Division-I program which had considerable roster turnover but blended together in conference play to start 4-1 after facing one of the most challenging non-league schedules in the nation.
 
UTA had the 13th-hardest non-conference strength of schedule in 2021-22, and that prefaced a tough Sun Belt slate as every single one of the Mavs’ losses came by 10 points or less and only by an average of 5.6. Nine of those losses in conference play were by single digits, setting the most in a single season in program history. UTA also set a single-season program record by having six games go to overtime – two shy of tying the all-time NCAA record. The Mavs finished 11-18 overall and 7-10 in the Sun Belt.
 
Young coached David Azore to an all-league season in which he was named to the Sun Belt All-Conference First Team and NABC All-District First Team. Azore led the Sun Belt in scoring in conference games at 23.9 – nearly five points better than anyone else – and 19.9 for the year overall, which ranked 20th in the nation.
 
Prior to the 2020-21 season, Young was voted as the top assistant coach in the Sun Belt by his peers, as published by Stadium’s Jeff Goodman. Goodman also recognized Young as one of the top-5 assistants in the Southland Conference in 2010-11 when the Mavs were a league member.
 
Young has previous head-coaching experience as he registered an overall record of 168-139 (.547) in 10 seasons as a junior college head coach. During that time, he had 55 players sign with four-year institutions, including 26 with Division-I schools.
 
Young came to UT Arlington from Jacksonville (Texas) College, where he spent four years as the head coach of the Jaguars. He also served as the school’s athletic director.
 
He led his team to a 21-10 record in 2008-09, which was one of the best seasons in school history. The Jaguars spent the majority of the season in the NJCAA national rankings, and Young was honored following the campaign as the Region XIV Coach of the Year.
 
Young went to Jacksonville College from Texas State where he served for five years as the Bobcats’ recruiting coordinator. During his tenure, the Bobcats played in the Southland Conference Tournament each season. He signed eight top-100 players, according to Texas Hoops, during those five seasons.
 
Prior to his tenure at Texas State, Young was the head coach at Hill College in Hillsboro for two seasons. He led the Rebels to consecutive Region V Tournament appearances, and in 1999-2000 led the team to the regional tournament championship game. That was the first time the school had reached the finals since 1974.
 
From 1994-98 Young was the head coach at Lamar Community College in Colorado. Young turned the Lopes into a Region VIX contender in his four years there, twice reaching the Region VIX tournament quarterfinals.
 
Young was the assistant coach at Eastern New Mexico from 1991-94. He helped lead the Greyhounds to the Lone Star Conference title in 1992 and an appearance in the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen in the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Young also spent time as an assistant coach at Cleburne High School during the 1990-91 season and as an assistant at Texas Wesleyan from 1986-90.
 
A native of Cleburne, Texas, Young was a three-sport athlete at Cleburne High, lettering in football, basketball and baseball. He then went on to play basketball at Howard Payne University where he was a four-year letterman. He was named a captain his senior season and received the distinguished Paul J. Cunningham Award for excellence and dedication his senior year.
 
Young graduated from Howard Payne in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He later earned his master’s in education from Texas Wesleyan in 1990.