Jerrance Howard was hired as an assistant coach at the University of Texas at Arlington in June 2026 after spending two seasons on the Arizona State coaching staff under Bobby Hurley.
Howard joined Arizona State in 2024 and quickly established himself as a key recruiter and talent evaluator for the Sun Devils. During his tenure in Tempe, he helped Arizona State secure one of the nation’s top-ranked recruiting and transfer classes, highlighted by five-star recruit Jayden Quaintance and Top-100 transfers BJ Freeman, Alston Mason and Basheer Jihad. The Sun Devils transitioned into the Big 12 Conference during Howard’s time on staff.
Howard brought more than 20 years of coaching experience to Arizona State. Prior to joining the Sun Devils, he served as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois during the 2023-24 season. Before that, he spent the 2021-22 campaign at Texas under Chris Beard, helping the Longhorns assemble the nation’s No. 1-ranked transfer class while also contributing to a Top-5 recruiting class and the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 2014.
From 2013-21, Howard served on Bill Self’s staff at Kansas, where he was part of eight NCAA Tournament teams, one Final Four appearance and three Elite Eight runs. The Jayhawks won at least 25 games in every full season during his tenure and reached the 30-win mark three times. Howard played a significant role in recruiting and developing several high-profile prospects during his time in Lawrence.
Howard also spent one season at SMU under Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, helping lay the foundation for the Mustangs’ resurgence by contributing to a Top-10 recruiting class in 2012-13.
His first full-time assistant coaching position came at his alma mater, Illinois, where he served from 2007-12 under Bruce Weber. During his five seasons in Champaign, the Fighting Illini posted three consecutive 20-win campaigns, earned two NCAA Tournament appearances and secured back-to-back nationally ranked recruiting classes.
Howard began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M from 2004-07 under Billy Gillispie before briefly joining the Kentucky staff in 2007.
Widely regarded as one of the nation’s top recruiters, Howard recruited or coached numerous future NBA players during his career, including Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Devonte’ Graham, Josh Jackson, Kelly Oubre Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Patrick Patterson, Meyers Leonard and Emmanuel Mudiay.
As a player at Illinois from 2000-04, Howard was a two-time team captain and helped the Fighting Illini compile a 126-41 record, win three Big Ten championships and make four NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight run in 2001.
Howard earned his bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Illinois in 2004. He and his wife, Jessica, have two children, Jerrance Jr. and Jaya.
