Introduction
Larry Robert Eustachy (born December 1, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who is the current men's basketball head coach at Colorado State University. Previously, he had been head coach of the men's basketball teams at Idaho (1990–1993), Utah State (1993–1998), Iowa State (1998–2003), and Southern Mississippi (2004–2012). Eustachy won the AP National Coach of the Year after leading Iowa State to the Elite Eight in the 2000 NCAA Tournament.
Coaching career
Idaho
Eustachy was the head coach at Idaho from 1990 through 1993. He led the Vandals to the 1993 Big Sky regular season championship.
Utah State
He took over the reins in Logan in 1993 and had a very successful five year stretch at the Utah State University. His teams won the Big West regular season three times and won the Big West Tournament in 1998.
Iowa State
Eustachy was named head coach at Iowa State in 1998 after Tim Floyd resigned to become head coach of the Chicago Bulls. Following a lackluster first season, Eustachy led the Cyclones to the best season in school history in 1999-2000. The Cyclones won a school record 32 games and came within one game of the Final Four. After leading the Cyclones to a second straight Big 12 Conference title in 2001, Eustachy signed a contract extension that, with incentives, made him the highest-paid state employee in Iowa.
Controversy
On April 28, 2003, The Des Moines Register carried pictures of Eustachy kissing several young women and holding a beer at a party near the University of Missouri's campus just hours after the Tigers defeated Eustachy's Cyclones on January 22. The Register also reported that Eustachy had been seen at a fraternity party at Kansas State hours after his team lost to the Wildcats. On April 30, 2003, 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. Eustachy initially indicated he would contest the suspension. Instead, on May 5, he announced his resignation.
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.
On January 9, 2008, he took a leave of absence 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 finished the season 21–10, 9–7 in Conference USA play. The team failed to received 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, replacing Tim Miles who had left for Nebraska.
Eustachy inherited a senior-laden 2012–13 roster that featured four returning starters and Minnesota-transfer Colton Iverson. 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 Tournament win since 1989 and a program record 26th win. CSU lost in the third round to top-seeded Louisville, 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.
On March 5, 2017, Eustachy 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.
Eustachy came under controversy again in February 2017 when records coming from a Colorado State-led investigation revealed that from 2013-14, he had created a culture of fear and intimidation by emotionally and verbally abusing his players and even his assistant coaches. Many people, including former Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham, who had hired Eustachy in 2012, called for him to be fired. Despite this, Eustachy remained at Colorado State after the investigation and was ordered by the school to attend anger management sessions and to apologize to his team. In addition, he was given a zero-tolerance policy for his actions and any violation of said policy would result in him being fired.
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho Vandals (Big Sky Conference) (1990–1993) | |||||||||
| 1990–91 | Idaho | 19–11 | 11–5 | 3rd | |||||
| 1991–92 | Idaho | 18–14 | 10–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1992–93 | Idaho | 24–8 | 11–3 | 1st | |||||
| Idaho: | 61–33 (.649) | 32–14 | |||||||
| Utah State Aggies (Big West Conference) (1993–1998) | |||||||||
| 1993–94 | Utah State | 14–13 | 11–7 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1994–95 | Utah State | 21–8 | 14–4 | 1st | NIT First Round | ||||
| 1995–96 | Utah State | 18–15 | 10–8 | 4th | |||||
| 1996–97 | Utah State | 20–9 | 12–4 | 1st | |||||
| 1997–98 | Utah State | 25–8 | 13–3 | 1st | NCAA Round of 64 | ||||
| Utah State: | 98–53 (.649) | 60–26 | |||||||
| Iowa State Cyclones (Big 12 Conference) (1998–2003) | |||||||||
| 1998–99 | Iowa State | 15–15 | 6–10 | 9th | |||||
| 1999–00 | Iowa State | 32–5 | 14–2 | 1st | NCAA Elite Eight | ||||
| 2000–01 | Iowa State | 25–6 | 13–3 | 1st | NCAA Round of 64 | ||||
| 2001–02 | Iowa State | 12–19 | 4–12 | T–10th | |||||
| 2002–03 | Iowa State | 17–14 | 5–11 | T–9th | NIT Second Round | ||||
| Iowa State: | 101–59 (.631) | 42–38 | |||||||
| Southern Miss Golden Eagles (Conference USA) (2004–2012) | |||||||||
| 2004–05 | Southern Miss | 11–17 | 2–14 | 14th | |||||
| 2005–06 | Southern Miss | 10–21 | 3–11 | 11th | |||||
| 2006–07 | Southern Miss | 20–11 | 9–7 | T–4th | |||||
| 2007–08 | Southern Miss | 19–14 | 9–7 | T–4th | |||||
| 2008–09 | Southern Miss | 15–17 | 4–12 | T–10th | |||||
| 2009–10 | Southern Miss | 20–14 | 8–8 | 6th | CIT First Round | ||||
| 2010–11 | Southern Miss | 22–10 | 9–7 | T–5th | |||||
| 2011–12 | Southern Miss | 25–9 | 11–5 | 2nd | NCAA Round of 64 | ||||
| Southern Miss: | 142–113 (.557) | 55–71 | |||||||
| Colorado State (Mountain West Conference) (2012–present) | |||||||||
| 2012–13 | Colorado State | 26–9 | 11–5 | 2nd | NCAA Round of 32 | ||||
| 2013–14 | Colorado State | 16–16 | 7–11 | T–8th | |||||
| 2014–15 | Colorado State | 27–7 | 13–5 | 3rd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 2015–16 | Colorado State | 18–16 | 8–10 | T–6th | |||||
| 2016–17 | Colorado State | 24–12 | 13–5 | 2nd | NIT Second Round | ||||
| Colorado State: | 111–60 (.649) | 52–36 (.591) | |||||||
| Total: | 513–316 (.619) | ||||||||
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National champion Postseason invitational champion |
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