On Saturday, March 18 2023, Steve Lutz was named the 16th head men’s basketball coach at Western Kentucky University. He enters his first season at the helm for the 2023-24 campaign.
Lutz, a native of San Antonio, Texas, led Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the last two seasons to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament win in a First Four victory over
SEMO on March 14.
With Lutz at the helm, the Islanders won three conference championships, two tournament and one regular-season, over the last two years. He holds a career head coaching record of 47-23 in two seasons and was named the 2023 Southland Conference and
NABC District 22 Coach of the Year.
In early March 2023, Lutz was also named a finalist for the 2023 Skip Prosser Man of the Year award, an honor given annually to the head men’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I who both achieves success on the basketball court and displays moral integrity off of it.
Under Lutz, TAMUCC wrapped up a 24-11 season for 2022-23, with a 14-4 mark in league play. The Islanders final game was against overall No. 1 seed Alabama in an NCAA Tournament first-round match up. Lutz’s crew had the Southland Defensive Player of the Year in
Terrion Murdix and a program-record three All-Conference honorees in
Murdix, Isaac
Mushila and Trey Tennyson.
In 2022-23, the Islanders led the league in scoring (80.4 ppg), free throw percentage (79%), 3-point field goal defense (33.1%), rebounding (36.9 rpg), rebounding margin (+3.6), assists (15.7 apg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.2). They were also second in scoring defense (72.5 ppg), field goal percentage defense (44.6%) and steals (8.8 spg).
A&M-Corpus Christi had four consecutive losing seasons before hiring Lutz and finished 5-19 in 2020-21, the year prior to his arrival. He then made the largest turnaround in program history with a 23-12 record in 2021-22. Lutz brought in the most transfers by any NCAA DI program at 10, with 12 total transfers on the roster.
Two of those transfers –
Mushila and Tennyson - earned All-Conference honors while a third –
Murdix – earned Southland Conference Tournament MVP and All-Defensive Team honors.
Mushila was also named the league’s Newcomer of the Year. The Islanders won a school record 13 non-conference games that season.
Before earning his first head coaching position, Lutz was an assistant for four years at Purdue. During his time in West Lafayette, the Boilermakers compiled a 90-42 record, including a 53-24 mark in the Big Ten. Purdue made appearances in every NCAA Tournament during his stint with an Elite Eight run in 2019 and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2018.
Lutz was crucial in the recruitment of current National Player of the Year prospect, junior center Zach
Edey, and in the development of Consensus All-American guard
Carsen Edwards.
Before his time at Purdue, Lutz spent seven seasons at Creighton, assisting the Bluejays to a 166-82 record over that time. Creighton made four appearances in the NCAA Tournament and won two conference tournament championships plus a regular season title.
Other stops for Lutz include four seasons at SMU, six seasons at Stephen F. Austin, a season at Garden City and four at Incarnate Word.
Lutz played basketball at Texas Lutheran, serving as team captain in his senior season. He earned his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology with a minor in Secondary Education/Business Administration before earning his master’s in Physical Education at Incarnate Word.
Lutz and his wife, Shannon, have three children: Caroline, McKenna and Jackson.
THE STEVE LUTZ FILE
PERSONAL
Born: October 25, 1972 (50 years old)
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
College: Texas Lutheran ‘95; Incarnate Word ‘97
Wife: Shannon
Children: Caroline, McKenna, Jackson
COACHING CAREER
1995-99: Incarnate Word (assistant)
1999-00: Garden City (assistant)
2000-06: Stephen F. Austin (recruiting coordinator)
2006-10: SMU (recruiting coordinator)
2010-17: Creighton (assistant coach)
2017-21: Purdue (assistant coach)
2021-23: Texas A&M Corpus-Christi (head coach)
2023-24: WKU (head coach)
CAREER ACCOLADES
Championships: Southland Tournament Champion (2022, 2023), Southland Regular Season Champion (2023)
Postseason Experience as a head coach: NCAA Tournament (2022, 2023);
As an assistant: NCAA Tournament (2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 – Sweet 16, 2019 – Elite 8, 2021); NIT (2016 – Elite 8)
Awards: 2023 District 22 NABC Coach of the Year, 2023 Southland Coach of the Year, Finalist for Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, Finalist for 2022 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year
