The University of Louisiana-Lafayette announced on Monday that Bob Marlin has been hired as the 13th head men's basketball coach in school history. His hiring is pending approval by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.
Marlin, who signed a five-year contract, comes to Louisiana after serving in the same capacity at Sam Houston State since 1998.
"Coach Marlin is an individual that we identified very early in our search," Cajuns Athletics Director David Walker said. "The more we learned about him, the more impressed we were. When people spoke to us about Bob Marlin, they used words like 'integrity', 'disciplinarian' and 'teacher'."
Marlin was a finalist for the opening at Auburn and was also being considered at Houston and UTEP before ultimately deciding that the Ragin' Cajuns provided the best fit. He was recently named the 2010 District 23 NABC Coach of the Year.
"When we had the opportunity to meet Coach Marlin, we were convinced he was the coach to lead our program," Walker stated. "But Bob Marlin was no longer the best kept secret in college basketball. Several universities saw the same qualities in him that we saw and the fact that he chose to be at UL makes this even more special."
In 12 seasons with the Bearkats, Marlin produced an overall record of 225 victories and 131 losses -- more victories than any other Southland Conference member during that time span.
Prior to Marlin's arrival in Huntsville, Texas, SHSU had had a record of 93-202 in 11 years since moving up to Division I in 1987-88.
His last eight seasons at SHSU produced a combined record of 163-81 for an average record of 20-10 each season. That stretch included five 20-plus win seasons, two conference championships and two NCAA Tournament berths. Sam Houston is one of only 52 Division I men's basketball teams to post four 20-victory seasons in the last five years.
Since 2000, Marlin has not only dominated the Southland Conference but also the State of Texas. Only one of the 20 NCAA Division I men's basketball schools in the state has won more games or has a higher winning percentage than Marlin at Sam Houston State. In fact, no other school in the State of Texas, other than Texas and Sam Houston State, can boast a winning percentage greater than .650.
His best overall season with the Bearkats came in 2009-10, as he led SHSU to a 25-8 mark, including a 14-2 record in conference play and a 13-1 mark at home. He was named as 2010 Southland Conference Coach of the Year after capturing the Southland regular season and tournament championship. It was the third time that the Southland bestowed him as its Coach of the Year ('00, '03 '10).
Sam Houston State's 12-1 non-conference record in 2007-08 was the University's best Division I non-conference record in school history and equaled the most regular season non-conference wins for a Southland Conference team since 1991. During the team's 10-0 start in 2007-08, SHSU received votes in the Associated Press national top 25 for the first time since the Bearkats moved up to the NCAA Division I level.
The Bearkats basketball team has achieved in the classroom as well as on the floor. Seven SHSU men's basketball players earned Academic All-Southland honors a total of 17 times since the 2006 season. The last three SLC men's basketball Student-Athletes of the Year have been Bearkats (Ryan Bright in 2007 and 2008 and Barkley Falkner in 2009).
"Not only has Coach Marlin been a winner everywhere he has been, he has done it the right way," Walker explained. "That was extremely important to us."
Marlin is one of only two coaches in the history of the Southland Conference to post more than 200 coaching victories.
In 17 seasons as a head coach, Marlin has produced a record of 348 victories and 166 losses. He has been named Coach of the Year four times and owns 11 seasons of 20-plus wins in his coaching career.
Marlin rolled up a 123-35 record as head coach at Pensacola Junior College. In 1993, he was National Junior College Coach of the Year after directing Pensacola to the NJCAA National Championship.
As a head coach, Marlin has coached an NBA draft pick, one NJCAA National Player of the Year, one NJCAA Student-Athlete of the Year, two Southland Conference "Players of the Year," three Southland "Newcomers of the Year," one Southland "Freshman of the Year," three Southland "Student Athletes of the Year", four All-Americans, 38 All-Conference selections, four Academic All-Americans, and 36 Academic All-Conference student-athletes.
He served as an assistant coach at Alabama, Marshall, Houston Baptist, and Louisiana-Monroe.
As an assistant coach, Marlin helped guide the Alabama Crimson Tide to the 1996 National Invitational Final Four. Working under Dana Altman at Marshall in 1989-90, he helped direct the Thundering Herd to a runner-up finish in the Southern Conference. From 1984 to 1989, Marlin served as assistant to Gene Iba and Tommy Jones at Houston Baptist. The Huskies earned an NCAA Division I tournament berth in 1984 and finished among the top three teams in the TransAmerica Conference four times. While serving as a graduate assistant at La.-Monroe under head coach Mike Vining, Marlin coached the junior varsity and was scouting director for a ULM squad that won the TransAmerica Conference championship and earned an NCAA post-season tournament berth in 1982.
Born in Tupelo, Miss., Marlin received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education from Mississippi State in 1981. He earned his Masters in Health and Physical Education (with a minor in guidance and counseling) from Northeast Louisiana in 1983. Marlin was inducted into the Florida Junior College Hall of Fame in March, 2007. He has a son, Matt.

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