David Anwar - Men's Basketball Coach

MBK - David Anwar - Michigan State 2023-24

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

David Anwar

Title:
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Phone:
662-325-3800

David Anwar enters his fifth season as an assistant coach at Mississippi State and his 10th season overall on Chris Jans’ staff in 2026-27.

Anwar has been an integral part of 198 victories, an average of 22.0 wins per year, and a .685 winning percentage over the last nine seasons. He has been by Jans’ side for every monumental moment during his Mississippi State and New Mexico State tenures which is headed by six NCAA Tournaments trips since the 2017-18 season.

Anwar is regarded as one of the nation’s elite recruiters and possesses a wealth of experience gained over his 20 seasons as an NCAA Division I assistant coach which has paid more than its fair share of dividends for the programs he’s been associated with. He was listed among the Silver Waves Media 100 Most Impactful High Major Assistant Coaches in January 2026.

The Bulldogs earned three consecutive NCAA Tournament trips on the strength of a trio of a 21-win campaigns in 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25. It marked the third time in State’s history and the first time in two decades that the Bulldogs have pieced together NCAA Tournament runs in three straight seasons.

State dialed up 10 victories over Associated Press Top 25 squads which set a new program watermark for a three- span. The Bulldogs also amassed a single season record of five regular season ranked wins during 2024-25 coming off the heels of three AP Top 10 triumphs in 2023-24.

State ascended to as high as No. 14 in the AP Top 25 poll in 2024-25 and was ranked during the month of March for the first time since 2003-04. Overall, the Bulldogs were ranked in 19 editions of the AP Top 25 poll from 2022-23 to 2024-25.

Anwar has served as the lead recruiter to numerous nationally ranked recruits throughout his career. His efforts led to Tee Bartlett and King Grace, a pair of ESPN Top 100 players, on State’s roster in 2026-27.

Anwar’s five seasons at New Mexico State under Coach Jans enabled the program to stake its claim to three of the program’s top five single season win totals. The Aggies dialed up at least 25 victories during four of five seasons and accumulated a program-record 30 victories in 2018-19.

New Mexico State was showered with trophies headlined by four WAC regular season championships (2018-19-20-22) and three WAC Tournament titles (2018-19-22). The Aggies made three trips to NCAA March Madness and broke through with a 12-5 upset of Connecticut in 2022 after nearly defeating 2019 NCAA Final Four participant Auburn.

New Mexico State was on the cusp of another postseason trip after a 19-game winning streak, an undefeated WAC regular season and a 25-6 mark in 2019-20 before the season ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Aggies were the fixture atop the WAC standings with a 64-13 conference record. The .831 winning percentage was good enough for sixth in the nation over the five-year period. New Mexico State also defeated No. 6 Miami at the 2017-18 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic which resulted in the program’s first AP top 10 win since the 1989-90 season.

Before New Mexico State, Anwar spent five seasons at North Texas from 2012-13 to 2016-17 working for Tony Benford. He held the role as the program’s lead recruiter and helped the Mean Green rake in a top 50 national recruiting class in 2013-14.

Anwar gained six years of experience at the major conference level from 2006-07 to 2011-12 at Nebraska under Doc Sadler. The Cornhuskers secured postseason berths in three of his last five seasons.

Staples of the Nebraska program were back-to-back top 25 finishes in scoring defenses in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Anwar’s tutelage of the guards also saw a huge uptick where the Huskers connected for the second-most treys in program history at the time during the 2006-07 season and drain a then school record 39.7 percent shooting clip from downtown that also ranked 15th nationally in 2009-10.

Anwar’s presence in the recruiting world landed the Huskers arguably its best recruiting class in the Big 12 era in 2007. That year, Nebraska’s class was ranked inside the top 25 by three major scouting services.

Anwar made the jump to Division I basketball as UTEP’s Director of Operations in 2004-05 and 2005-06 for Sadler after spending four seasons as an assistant coach at Division II’s University of Arkansas at Fort Smith from 2000-01 to 2003-04. His last three seasons at UAFS was where he and Sadler first paired up.

Anwar helped the Lions post a 101-29 record in addition to a pair of top-seven national finishes in 2001 (5th) and 2002 (7th). UAFS captured the Bi-State Conference East title in each of his final three seasons and produced a multitude of all-conference players. He’s also helped over 20 players get to the NCAA Division I level during his time at UAFS.

Anwar’s coaching career began at the prep level in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, where he saw close to 50 of his players continue their careers at the NCAA Division I or Division II levels.

Affectionately known as ‘Philly Dave’ for his love of all things Philadelphia led by the Super Bowl LII and Super Bowl LIX champion Eagles, Anwar received his bachelor’s degree in special education and sociology from Fitchburg State in 1998. Then, he earned a master’s degree in sports management/sports leadership from Virginia Commonwealth in 2004.

The David Anwar File
Seasons • School • Years at School • Position
2023-Present • Mississippi State • 5 Seasons • Assistant Coach
2018-19-20-21-22 • New Mexico State • 5 Seasons • Assistant Coach
2013-14-15-16-17 • North Texas • 5 Seasons • Assistant Coach
2007-08-09-10-11-12 • Nebraska • 6 Seasons • Assistant Coach
2005-06 • UTEP • 2 Seasons • Director of Operations
2001-02-03-04 • Arkansas Fort Smith • 4 Seasons • Assistant Coach

Note: Seasons are represented by hyphen and begin with the year’s last date. For example, the 2022-23 season is listed as 2023 which was Anwar’s first season coaching at Mississippi State.