Sam Weaver Joins Rick Stansbury's Bulldog Basketball Staff
May 25, 2016 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University head men's basketball coach Rick Stansbury has announced the hiring of Sam Weaver as assistant basketball coach on his Bulldog coaching staff. The hiring is pending the approval of the Board of Trustees, Institutions of Higher Learning.
A 20-year coaching veteran, Weaver previously served as head basketball coach for three seasons (1998-2001) at the University of Northern Iowa as well as spending three prior seasons (1993-96) as head coach at Alcorn State University. Most recently, he spent this past basketball season serving as head basketball coach at Clarksville High School in his home state of Arkansas.
Prior to serving his three-year coaching stint with the UNI Panthers of the Missouri Valley Conference, Weaver spent two seasons on Tim Floyd's coaching staff at Iowa State University. In his first season on the Cyclone staff, Weaver helped lead ISU to an NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance with a 22-9 record in 1996-97. The following season he was promoted to associate head coach at Iowa State before being hired by Northern Iowa in 1998.
With two decades of coaching experience to his credit, Weaver began his career with a six-year stint (1981-87) as an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri State University, where he helped guide the Indians to four regional championships, four conference titles and a national runner-up finish in 1986. Upon serving one-year stints as an assistant coach at Drake (1987-88) and Missouri Southern (1988-89), Weaver spent four seasons (1989-93) as an assistant on Rich Herrin's coaching staff at Southern Illinois University. During Weaver's four years in Carbondale, the Salukis claimed a pair of Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championships, earned three National Invitation Tournament berths, and advanced to the 1993 NCAA Tournament after capturing the MVC Tournament title.
A native of McNeil, Ark., Weaver starred at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo., before earning his bachelor's degree in education (1981) from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark. He later earned his master's degree in physical education from Southeast Missouri State in 1985. While at Three Rivers, Weaver teamed with current Mississippi State assistant coach Robert Kirby to help lead the 1978-79 Raiders to the national championship with a 37-3 record. Weaver was named the MVP of the 1979 NJCAA Tournament after scoring a career-high 34 points in Three Rivers' 109 103 double-overtime, semifinal-round victory over Nolan Richardson's Western Texas contingent.
Weaver, 43, is married to the former Carolyn Davis of Essex, Mo. They are the parents of three children -- Thurlon Jr., 22, Christy, 21, and Marcus, 14.
