Gibson Kirk Arnold (born October 19, 1968) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player and coach.

Early life and education

Arnold was born in 1968, when his father Frank Arnold was an assistant coach at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. As Frank Arnold later became an assistant at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and was head coach at

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, Gib Arnold grew up in the Los Angeles,

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County and is home to Brigham Young University (BYU). Provo lies between the ...

, and

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii areas. Arnold graduated from

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

in 1987, where he was a prep All-American and Hawaii's high school Gatorade Player of the Year. Initially committed to Hawaii, Arnold first attended

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

instead to follow his father, who became assistant coach for the

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member o ...

. An honor student as a freshman, Arnold left Arizona State to go on a two-year

LDS mission A mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany. In 1990, Arnold enrolled in

Dixie State College Utah Tech University (UT), formerly known as Dixie State University (DSU) and similar names, is a public university in St. George, Utah. The university offers about 240 programs (4 master's degrees, 53 bachelor's degrees, 18 associate degrees, 4 ...

, a junior college in

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

and played his first year of college basketball there. Arnold transferred to

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

in 1991, averaging 3.6 points in 20 games as a sophomore. Retiring from basketball, Arnold transferred to

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

and graduated in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Gib is currently in the process of completing his master's degree in clinical psychology, at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, in Cambridge.

Coaching career

Assistant coach and junior college head coach (1994–2010)

Arnold began his coaching career as an assistant coach at

Provo High School Provo High School is a public secondary school located in Provo, Utah, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Provo City School District and was the oldest secondary school in the city. In the Summer of 2017 the school district be ...

in 1994. In the 1995–96 season, Arnold moved up to the junior college level as assistant coach at Utah Valley State College (now

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July 2008. History ...

). The following season, Arnold got his first NCAA Division I coaching job as assistant coach at

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

. In the 1998–99 season, Arnold was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt under

Jan van Breda Kolff Jan van Breda Kolff (born December 16, 1951) is an American former college basketball, college and professional basketball player and college basketball head coach. The son of coach Butch van Breda Kolff and grandson of Dutch soccer player Jan ...

. In 1999, Arnold followed van Breda Kolff to

Pepperdine Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

and remained on staff under

Paul Westphal Paul Douglas Westphal (November 30, 1950 – January 2, 2021) was an American basketball player, head coach, and commentator. Westphal played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1972 to 1984. Playing the guard position, he won an ...

from 2001 to 2003. At Pepperdine, Arnold specialized in coaching defense and recruiting. From 2003 to 2005, Arnold served as the head coach at the

College of Southern Idaho College of Southern Idaho (CSI) is a public community college in Twin Falls, Idaho. It also has off-campus programs in Jerome, Hailey, Burley and Gooding. Until the foundation of the College of Western Idaho in 2007, CSI was one of only two ...

, a junior college in

Twin Falls, Idaho Twin Falls is the county seat and largest city of Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The city had a population of 51,807 as of the 2020 census. In the Magic Valley region, Twin Falls is the largest city in a radius, and is the regional ...

where he posted a 57–14 record. On April 6, 2005, Arnold became an assistant coach at

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

under

Tim Floyd Tim Floyd (born February 25, 1954) is a former American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He was formerly the head coach of several teams in the NCAA and the NBA. Floyd is also kn ...

and remained for the 2009–10 season under new head coach Kevin O'Neill. At USC, Arnold was named as one of the top 25 recruiters in the country by Rivals.com and one of the top 10 assistant coaches in the country by ''

Athlon Sports Parade Media (previously known as AMG/Parade and Athlon Media Group) is a publisher founded in 1967 that is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville's Spencer Hays was its majority stockholder. It was purchased by The Arena Group in 2022 and now ...

'' magazine. Among players he coached at USC included first-round NBA draft picks

DeMar DeRozan DeMar Darnell DeRozan (born August 7, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the USC Trojans and was selected ninth overall by the T ...

Taj Gibson Taj Jami Gibson (born June 24, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Gibson played college basketball for the USC Trojans men's basketball, USC Trojans and w ...

, OJ Mayo, and

Nikola Vucevic Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Monteneg ...

Hawaii (2010–2014)

On March 20, 2010, the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

named Arnold the 19th head coach of

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball The Hawaiʻi Rainbow Warriors basketball team represents the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in NCAA men's competition. (Women's sports teams at the school are known as Rainbow Wahine.) The team currently competes in the Big West Conference aft ...

. Having inherited a program that had three straight losing seasons, Arnold led Hawaii to a 19–13 record and

CIT CIT or cit may refer to: Organizations * CIT Group, an American banking and financial services company * CIT Bank, a subsidiary of CIT Group * Center for Information Technology, of the US government * Compagnia Italiana Turismo, an Italian travel ...

appearance in his first season. Hawaii made the 2013 CIT and had its best record under Arnold at 20–11 in 2013–14, their first 20 win season in over a decade. Arnold was the quickest Coach Hawaii history to reach 50 wins. His team excelled not only on the court but in the classroom achieving the highest team GPA in school history and scoring a perfect 1000 APR on two occasions during his four year tenure. On March 7, 2014, during a game at

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...

, a fan of the home team ran on the court to confront Arnold after a Hawaii player was whistled for an intentional foul. Hawaii players restrained the fan, who was later arrested.

NCAA violations

On October 28, 2014, days before the start of the 2014–15 season, Hawaii fired Arnold and assistant coach Bradyn Akana during the initial stages of an NCAA investigation. Hawaii announced self-imposed penalties on May 15, 2015, as a result of seven alleged Level I or Level II NCAA violations and vacated 36 wins in which back-up center Davis Rozitis competed in the previous two seasons, due to what Hawaii determined to be improper benefits from a booster. Assistant Coach Brandyn Akana was found to have altered information on an internal document for an incoming international student athlete and to have given an iPad to a student athlete as a Christmas gift. The NCAA investigation showed that Arnold had no knowledge of the violations. The NCAA determined that back-up center and Hawaii Scholar Athlete of the Year Davis Rozitis borrowed a car of an acquaintance to move his belongings into his dorm. NCAA records show that Rozitis borrowed the car from the booster's girlfriend as the booster was on the mainland. At first the University of Hawaii compliance director believed that the man in question was not a booster and no violation had occurred. Later it was found out he attended an athletic banquet and buying a ticket to the event two years prior triggered booster status. Hawaii reduced scholarships and practice time, placed itself on one-year probation, and paid a $10,000 fine. On December 23, 2015, the NCAA announced the results of its investigation, which cleared Arnold of any Level I violations. The NCAA dismissed or lessened every allegation against Arnold. Arnold’s Attorney, James Bickerton said that “his client was pleased the NCAA found no level 1 violations—-the most serious of the associations tiers of infractions —-as he had been saying.” Bickerton said the “NCAA accepted Arnold’s testimony on events and rejected the testimony of his main accusers on the factual points he disputed. The NCAA also recognized Arnold was poorly supported by the university’s compliance department.“ Hawaii reached a $700,000 settlement with Arnold on October 9, 2015, for firing him without cause.

Personal life

Gib Arnold has four sisters. Gib has five children with his former spouse. As a certified USA Triathlon coach, Gib has completed several Ironman triathlons as well as completing the Boston Marathon in 2019.

Head coaching record

Junior college

College

References

External links

Hawaii athletic department bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Gib 1968 births Living people American men's basketball players Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Hawaii Basketball players from Hawaii Boston Celtics personnel Brigham Young University alumni College basketball controversies in the United States College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Utah Tech Trailblazers men's basketball players Guards (basketball) Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball coaches Latter Day Saints from California Latter Day Saints from Hawaii Latter Day Saints from Oregon Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball coaches Mormon missionaries in Germany NCAA sanctions Pepperdine Waves men's basketball coaches Punahou School alumni Southern Idaho Golden Eagles men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Eugene, Oregon UC San Diego Tritons men's basketball players USC Trojans men's basketball coaches Utah Valley Wolverines men's basketball coaches Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball coaches Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni