Thomas Sydnor Asbury (born July 14, 1945) is a retired American men's

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 ...

coach. He spent two separate terms as head coach of

Pepperdine University 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 t ...

, retiring from that position in 2011. He also was a head coach for

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and served as an assistant coach at Pepperdine, the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

(his alma mater), and the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

Career

Pepperdine

Asbury was an assistant coach at Pepperdine for nine seasons before succeeding

Jim Harrick James Richard Harrick (born July 25, 1938) is a former American basketball coach. He has been the head coach at UCLA, Pepperdine University, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Georgia over a combined total of 23 seasons. During ...

as head coach. Asbury was very successful in his first stint at Pepperdine, becoming the conference coach of the year twice and compiling a 125–59 record in his first six years. He took the Waves to the NCAA Tournament in 1991, 1992 and 1994, as well as two NIT appearances, three regular-season WCC titles and three WCC Tournament championships.

Kansas State and Alabama

His success landed him the head coaching job at

. He coached the Wildcats for six seasons making the NCAA tournament once and the

NIT Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

twice. However, his final season ended in 1999–2000 at Kansas State with a 9–19 record and a 2–14 conference record. He was fired and later returned to coaching as an assistant at the

under former pupil

Mark Gottfried Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Cal State Northridge Matadors Gottfried played one season at Oral Roberts and three se ...

. Mark Fox, the head coach at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, is another former Asbury assistant, having coached with him at Kansas State.

Return to Pepperdine and retirement

Asbury came out of retirement to coach Pepperdine for a second time prior to the 2008–09 season. After three more seasons, on March 11, 2011, Asbury announced his retirement, turning the Pepperdine program over to assistant Marty Wilson. In October 2012, Asbury was inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame.Pepperdine Inducts Four Into Hall of Fame
accessed Oct. 22, 2012

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asbury, Tom 1945 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Colorado Basketball players from Denver College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Forwards (basketball) Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball coaches Pepperdine Waves men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Denver Wyoming Cowboys basketball coaches Wyoming Cowboys basketball players