Matt Zimmerman is the current director of operations and a former assistant

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

and a former

Arkansas Razorbacks basketball The Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team represents the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. The team competes in the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas plays its home games in ...

team manager. A member of

Delta Upsilon Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek Letter Organizations#Greek letters, Greek-let ...

fraternity, Zimmerman graduated from the

in 1990. He went on to serve in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

until 1995 reaching the rank of Captain.http://uabsports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/zimmerman_matt00.html He then went on to serve as an athletic director and coach at the high school level before joining Mike Anderson's staff at UAB and Missouri. He is well known for his work ethic and commitment to coaching. Zimmerman headed up the walk-on tryouts while at both UAB and Missouri.

Player career

Zimmerman was a standout basketball player for

Wonderview High School Wonderview High School is a comprehensive public high school in unincorporated Conway County, Arkansas, United States, with a Hattieville postal address. It is one of three public high schools located in Conway County and is the sole high school ...

from 1981–1985, where his team had a combined 133-19 record in four years capped off by a 36-4 record and a state runner-up finish his junior season. After high school, Zimmerman worked as a student manager for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

for three seasons (1987–88, 1988–89 and 1989–90) under head coach

Nolan Richardson Nolan Richardson Jr. (born December 27, 1941) is a former American basketball head coach best known for his tenure at the University of Arkansas, where he won the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and led the Razorbacks to three F ...

and assistant coach Mike Anderson. During those three seasons Arkansas had an overall record of 76–21, a conference record of 42–6, two conference titles, and three

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

tournament appearances including a final four in 1990.

Military career

After college, Zimmerman served in the

from 1990 to 1995. He graduated from the Army Airborne School in 1991 and served as Platoon Leader, shop officer, company executive officer and Battalion S-1 on his way to achieving the rank of captain.

Coaching career

High school coaching career

Upon completing his time in the military, Zimmerman entered the

coaching ranks in his home state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

. From 1995 to 1998, Zimmerman served as the Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach for the now defunct

Plainview-Rover High School Plainview-Rover High School was a high school in Plainview, Arkansas, serving grades 7–12. In its final years it was a part of the Two Rivers School District. It served the communities of Plainview and Rover. History It was previously a part of ...

. While there he led the team to three conference titles and was selected as the conference coach of the year in 1996. In 1998 Zimmerman took the head coaching job at Dardanelle High School in

Dardanelle, Arkansas Dardanelle is a city in northeast Yell County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 4,745 at the 2010 census. Along with Danville, it serves as a county seat for Yell County. It is located near Lake Dardanelle. Dardanelle is part of the ...

. In his four years there the team accumulated a 74-46 record and captured the Class 4A State Title in the 2001-2002 season. This success led Zimmerman to be named the KARV Dream Team Coach of the Year and River Valley Radio Coach of the Year in 2000.

College coaching career

When

was let go at the University of Arkansas, the Razorbacks hired Stan Heath rather than long term assistant coach Mike Anderson, who had been an assistant for 17 seasons under Richardson. Instead the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), located in Anderson's home town of

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, gave Anderson a chance to be a head coach. Zimmerman joined Anderson's staff at UAB until Anderson accepted the position of head basketball coach at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

in 2006. Zimmerman followed Anderson to Missouri and served on his staff as an assistant until Anderson accepted the head coaching job at the

in 2011. On April 6, 2011 it was announced Zimmerman would join Anderson's staff at Arkansas. Zimmerman spent five years as an assistant and then another three years as the Director of Basketball Operations. He is currently a color analyst for the Razorback Sports Network and co-host, with Quinn Grovey, of The Razorback Daily podcast.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Matt Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Basketball coaches from Arkansas Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball coaches Missouri Tigers men's basketball coaches People from Conway County, Arkansas UAB Blazers men's basketball coaches United States Army officers