Larry Robert Eustachy (born December 1, 1955) 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 ...

coach, most recently the head coach of the

Colorado State Rams The Colorado State Rams are the athletic teams that represent Colorado State University (CSU). Colorado State's athletic teams compete along with 8 other institutions in the Mountain West Conference, which is an NCAA Division I conference and s ...

He was previously the head coach at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

and Eustachy was the AP

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

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after leading Iowa State to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament.

Coaching career

Idaho

At age 34, Eustachy became a head coach at Idaho in April

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, succeeding

Kermit Davis John Kermit Davis Jr. (born December 14, 1959) is an American college basketball coach for the Ole Miss Rebels. Davis was previously the head coach at Middle Tennessee. His head coaching experience also includes brief stops at Idaho (twice) and T ...

, who left the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, prima ...

for

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

after consecutive Big Sky titles and NCAA tournament appearances. He had been an assistant in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

for a season ( 1986–87) 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 k ...

, and Eustachy's first-year salary as head coach was $52,500. In his third year, he led the Vandals to the regular season championship in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, but they lost the tourney title game at home. Idaho was not selected for the NIT, and Eustachy departed a few days later.

Utah State

Eustachy took over the reins in Logan in March 1993, and had a very successful five-year stretch at Utah State; his teams won the

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacifi ...

regular season three times and won the conference tournament in 1998. The Aggies were seeded thirteenth in the West region of the NCAA tournament, and fell to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in the first round at

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

Iowa State

Eustachy was named head coach at Iowa State in late July 1998, after Tim Floyd left for the NBA's

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

. Following a lackluster first season, the Cyclones had their best season in school history in

. They won a school record 32 games and came within one game of the Final Four, and Eustachy was named AP

. After consecutive

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

titles in 2001, he signed a contract extension that, with incentives, made him the highest-paid state employee in Iowa.

Suspension and resignation

On April 28, 2003, ''

The Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction ...

'' carried pictures of Eustachy kissing several young women and holding a beer at a party near 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 ...

's campus just hours after the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

defeated his Cyclones on Tuesday, January 21. The ''Register'' also reported that Eustachy had been seen at a fraternity party at

Kansas State 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 ...

hours after his team lost to the Wildcats. On April 30, athletic director Bruce Van De Velde suspended Eustachy with pay and recommended that he be fired for violating a morals clause in his contract. Eustachy held a press conference in which he apologized for his behavior and admitted he had recently begun rehab treatment for alcoholism. He initially indicated he would contest the suspension, but announced his resignation on May 5. During the scandal, the ''Register'' reported that Iowa State documents showed that the NCAA cited Eustachy for rules violations related to paying players, including Jackson Vroman, for making free throws.

Southern Mississippi

On March 25, 2004, after a year out of coaching, Eustachy was hired as head coach at

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

. In 2008, he took a leave of absence on January 9 to be with his ailing mother. Following the 2008–09 season, he returned his $25,000 bonus from the university, saying that after a disappointing season, he did not feel as though he had earned it. In 2011, Southern Miss went 21–10 and 9–7 in Conference USA play. The team failed to receive a bid to the NCAA tournament and turned down invites to the CBI and CIT. On February 25, 2012, Eustachy recorded his 400th career victory.

Colorado State

On April 12, 2012, Eustachy left Southern Miss and was introduced as the 19th head basketball coach in Colorado State history, after Tim Miles left for Nebraska of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. Eustachy inherited a senior-laden roster that featured four returning starters and Minnesota-transfer

Colton Iverson Colton Miller Iverson (born June 29, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Akita Northern Happinets of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the University of Minnesota and Colorado State. College career ...

. The Rams were coming off a 20–12 season in which they made the NCAA tournament and lost to Murray State in the second round. CSU greatly improved in rebounding and defensively, leading to a historic season for the program. CSU cracked the top 25 rankings for the first time since 1954 during the season. At 11–5 the Rams finished second in the Mountain West, their highest finish in program history. For the second straight year, the Rams earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, this time as a No. 8 seed against Missouri. The Rams defeated the Tigers 84–72 to give Eustachy his first NCAA Tournament win since the Elite Eight run at Iowa State. It was CSU's first NCAA Tournament win since

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and a program record 26th win. CSU lost in the third round to top-seeded

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, ending the season 26–9. In August 2013, Eustachy signed a new contract to become the highest-paid coach in the Mountain West Conference. He has a base salary of $910,000 per year and will increase by two percent each following season, along with bonuses on top of it. In 2017, Eustachy recorded his 500th career victory on January 7. On March 5, he was named Mountain West Conference Coach of the year, after leading a CSU team with only seven available players to a second place conference finish in the MWC. In February 2017, ''

The Coloradoan The ''Coloradoan'' is a daily newspaper in Fort Collins, Colorado. The ''Coloradoan''s website is updated throughout the day with breaking news and video coverage of community news in Northern Colorado. History Founded by Joseph L. McClella ...

'' revealed that a 2014 Colorado State internal investigation recommended Eustachy's firing due to creating a culture of fear and intimidation by emotionally and verbally abusing his players and staff. However, Colorado State retained Eustachy and required him to attend anger management sessions, apologize to his team, and follow a zero-tolerance policy for directing profane language towards others or throwing or hitting objects, for which violations would result in termination for cause. On February 3, 2018, Colorado State placed Eustachy on administrative leave and promoted associate head coach Steve Barnes to interim head coach pending the completion of another inquiry into Eustachy's behavior. Colorado State confirmed the existence of that second investigation three days earlier on January 31; Eustachy resigned on February 26.

Head coaching record

References

External links