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Before the Bobcats even took the court for a regular-season game, the impact that first-year basketball coach Doug Davalos was making on the program was clearly evident.
While the intensity level was rising in practice and the expectations were also increasing off the court and in the classroom, the future of the program was evident the week of the season opener when Texas State hauled in a signing class which included four of the top 40 high school recruits in the state of Texas as well as one of the most prolific scorers in junior college basketball history.
On the court, Texas State went on to triple its win total from the previous season as the Bobcats went 9-20 and posted a 4-12 record in Southland Conference play.
Now Davalos begins his second season at the helm of the Texas State program.
The second season means there has been one more year of an off-season workout regimen. It has meant a full year of players understanding the expecations being placed on them both on the court and off. It has meant a initial season of seeing what the styles of play and talent level there is in the Southland Conference.
Davalos was named Texas State's head basketball coach on April 4, 2006. He came to the program from another institution in the Texas State University System, Sul Ross State, which he turned into a perennial winner in his four seasons.
At Sul Ross State, Davalos guided the Lobos to three straight American Southwest Conference West Division championships and four consecutive post-season appearances. In four years at the NCAA Division III school, Davalos' teams were 72-35 overall and 52-20 in the ASC.
Davalos' first Sul Ross State team (2002-03) posted the school's first winning season since 1979 and, at the time, the best record in school history, going 19-6 overall and 12-2 in ASC play. Davalos was named the ASC West Division Coach of the Year. The following year, the Lobos were 21-9 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The NCAA Tournament appearance was the school's first.
The 2004-05 team followed up the ASC championship season with a 19-7 overall record and a third straight divisional title. Sul Ross State would lose eight seniors off the 2005 team and would have five freshmen see significant playing time during the 2005-06 season as the squad went 13-13 overall. The Lobos won six of their last seven regular-season games to secure the school's fourth straight post-season appearance.
At a press conference announcing Davalos hire, Texas State University President Denise M. Trauth said, "When we started our national search, we had four main criteria. The coach needed head coaching experience. He should know how to recruit in Texas. He had to have good character and impeccable integrity. And he had to have the proven ability to turn a program around. We found such a coach.
"I was impressed with his understanding that his players are students first and athletes second, which is a tough thing for some college coaches to come to grips with," Trauth said. "At Texas State, it is of high importance, and it is an expectation of all of our coaches."
"Doug has the ability to turn programs around and he did that at Sul Ross," said Texas State Director of Athletics Larry Teis. "In the 15 years before he got there, Sul Ross was 94-281. In his four years, they went 72-35. That is impressive and shows his ability to flat out coach."
Off the court while a member of the Big Bend community, Davalos established "Reading with the Lobos," an Accelerated Reader program for K-5 students at Alpine Elementary as well as the "Lobos vs. Cancer" fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. He also served as an NCAA Division III Basketball Championship site representative.
Davalos has continued to build initiatives within the community in his first season at Texas State. During Texas State's two-week "boot camp" leading up to full-squad practices, Davalos' players paid visits to area schools as part of the National Association of Basketball Coaches' reading program.
Prior to being named the head coach at Sul Ross State, Davalos was an assistant for two years at Eastern New Mexico University where he assisted in the rebuilding of the Division II program. Davalos was part of a staff which inherited a program that was 3-23, but in two years had improved to 15-12 and qualified for the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the first time in five years.
Davalos recruited players to Eastern New Mexico who won back-to-back LSC South Division Championships in 2003 and 2004.
In addition to his collegiate experience, Davalos was the head coach for four years at Fort Stockton High School (1996-2000) where he had a combined 71-49 record and led the West Texas school to four straight winning seasons. His 1999-2000 team at Fort Stockton posted a 19-12 record and advanced to the Texas state playoffs for just the second time in 30 years.
Davalos' coaching career began as a student assistant coach at the University of Houston, and he was a graduate assistant coach at Auburn University at Montgomery where he had a variety of responsibilities including floor coaching, scouting, recruiting and academic advising.
He earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Houston in 1994 and also holds a Master of Arts in Education from Auburn-Montgomery, graduating in 1996. He is also a graduate of San Antonio's MacArthur High School where he was a National Honor Society student.
Davalos joined the Bobcat coaching staff already with strong ties to the Texas State community.
He and his wife Kim, a Texas State alumnus, have three daughters - Daylan (8), Danielle (7) and Desiree (3).
He is the son of Texas State All-America point guard Rudy Davalos, who captained the 1960 Texas State team to an NAIA national championship. The senior Davalos recently retired as the Director of Athletics at the University of New Mexico and is a distinguished Texas State alumnus (2001). He was inducted into the San Antonio Spurs Hall of Fame in 2002.
Davalos Year-by-Year
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