Men's Basketball Finalizes Coaching Staff for 2024-25
WACO, Texas – Baylor men's basketball announced the addition of four new coaches and three promotions, filling out its staff ahead of the 2024-25 season on Tuesday.
Bill Armstrong, Steve Henson and Melvin Hunt have been hired as Assistant Coaches, while former graduate student manager Gabe Awbrey will take over as BU's Director of Video Operations. Awbrey takes over for Ty Beard who was promoted to Director of Basketball Operations. Assistant Coach Jared Nuness returns for his 15th season on staff, making him the longest-tenured member of head coach Scott Drew's staff. Additionally, Tweety Carter has been promoted to Assistant Coach and Jason Smith moves into an elevated role as Baylor Men's Basketball's first General Manager.
Facing the most turnover on his staff since coming to Baylor, Drew is excited about the continued trajectory of this program with this new mix of coaches on staff.
"We have worked very hard to assemble a staff that brings together experience and talent while fitting in with our Culture of JOY," he said. "In our program, we like to say that many hands make light work, and each of these coaches brings an area of expertise that our players will love to learn from and will help continue to foster a culture that makes our fans proud. Each of them has a unique ability to relate to young people and help elevate them to where they want to go on their journey."
Armstrong spent the last two seasons as the head coach at Link Academy in Branson, Mo., where he coached several notable prospects, including BU's Ja'Kobe Walter. In his time leading the Lions, the program was perennially in the top-10 and made it to the Chipotle High School Basketball Nationals, formerly the GEICO Nationals, in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Led by Armstong and spurred by Walter, the 2022-23 Lions captured the national championship and finished the season as the nation's No. 1 ranked team.
Before his tenure at Link, Armstrong served as the Associate Head Coach at LSU from 2020-22 after spending three years in Baton Rouge as an assistant coach from 2017-20. During his time with the Bayou Bengals, LSU made four postseason appearances, including three NCAA tournaments, highlighted by an SEC title and a run to the Sweet 16 in 2019. The Tigers also had back-to-back first-round picks in 2021 and 2022, as Cam Thomas and Tari Eason were taken with the 27th and 17th picks, respectively.
Prior to his time at LSU, Armstrong spent 11 years on staff at Ole Miss, the first five as the director of operations and the final six as an assistant coach. In that time, the Rebels won 20 games nine times, earned eight postseason berths and won a pair of SEC West titles.
Steve Henson brings head coaching experience after spending eight seasons as the Head Coach at UTSA. A former standout point guard at Kansas State under the legendary Lon Kruger, Henson made an instant impact in San Antonio, lifting the Roadrunners to a nine-win improvement in his first year at the helm. He followed it up by helping UTSA to its first winning season since 2011-12, boasting a 20-15 record with an 11-7 mark in Conference USA play, earning him conference Coach of the Year honors.
The former All-Big Eight performer went to San Antonio with 15 years of coaching experience, 13 of those at the college level under his former head coach, Kruger. During his five seasons with Kruger at Oklahoma, Henson helped guide the squad to four consecutive 20-win seasons and NCAA Tournament berths, culminating with the program's fifth appearance in the Final Four and its first since 2002. Oklahoma also saw an increase in its win total in each of the last five campaigns with Henson on the bench.
Before a stint as an assistant at the University of South Florida from 2004-05, Henson spent two years with Kruger on staff with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. He was an advance scout from 2001-02 before being promoted to assistant coach. Prior to beginning his coaching career, Henson played for five teams over eight seasons in the NBA from 1990-99, with two additional seasons playing professionally in Italy.
A four-year letterwinner for Baylor from 1987-91, Hunt helped Baylor to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 38 years as a freshman during the 1987-88 season. As a junior, he helped BU back to the postseason as the Bears earned a bid to the 1990 NIT, its third postseason appearance in four years.
Upon graduation from Baylor, Hunt played professionally in the Caribbean and Mexico before starting his two-plus decade tenure as coach. After getting his start on the sidelines as an assistant at Temple High School, he broke into the college ranks at Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
From San Antonio, Hunt went east on I-10 to begin a four-year stint with the Houston Rockets as a scout (1999-2001 and 2003-04) and an assistant coach (2002-03). Following a season as an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004-05, Hunt went to Cleveland, where he spent five years with the Cavs during one of the most successful tenures in franchise history. In addition to a 2007 Eastern Conference Championship and a berth in the NBA Finals that season, Hunt helped the Cavs to a franchise-best 66 wins in 2008-09 en route to another Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2009.
After leaving Cleveland, Hunt spent five years on staff with the Denver Nuggets under George Karl and Brian Shaw, coaching the Nuggets to a 10-13 record in 23 games as the Interim Head Coach in 2015. Most recently he spent six years on the bench with the Dallas Mavericks (2015-18) and Atlanta Hawks (2018-21).
Awbrey is wrapping up his second season as a graduate student manager for Drew and will take over for Beard as the Director of Video Operations. Before his stint in Waco, Awbrey served as an assistant coach at his Alma Mater, Manhattan Christian College, from 2021-22 and at Palmer Ridge High School from 2020-21. He received his bachelor's degree in Christian ministry from Manhattan Christian College in 2020 and is set to earn his master's degree in Sports Pedagogy from Baylor this month.
Another former graduate student manager for Drew from 2009-11, Beard takes over as the Director of Basketball Operations after running video operations from 2017-24. In his second stint on Drew's staff, he helped guide the Bears to new heights with the 2021 National Championship and back-to-back Big 12 titles in 2021 and 2022. In eight seasons with Beard as Director of Video Operations, the Bears posted a combined 167-72 record, including 124 Big 12 Conference wins.
Carter is entering his third season on staff with the Bears, spending his first two seasons as the Director of Player Development. The first McDonalds All-American in program history, Carter has helped the Bears to back-to-back 20-win seasons and back-to-back No. 3 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. He helped mentor Baylor's third-straight top-16 pick (Keyonte George) during the 2022-23 season, with more first-round selections anticipated this upcoming June.
Smith enters his new role with the program, taking over as BU's General Manager after three seasons as the Director of Recruiting Operations. Some of the most successful recruiting classes in program history have come during Smith's tenure at the helm of recruiting operations. BU's signing classes have never finished below No. 17, while Smith and company just put the finishing touches on a consensus top-10 class, rated as high as No. 4 by On3.com and ESPN.com.
Serving seven seasons as a student manager, graduate student manager and special assistant to the head coach from 2007-13 and then returning in 2021-22, Smith has had a hand in the rise of the program over the years. In his two stints, the Bears have made seven NCAA Tournament appearances, including three Sweet 16s and two Elite Eights, and twice advanced to the NIT championship game, winning the title in 2013.