Wade's first LSU hire does not look like a slam dunk
Glenn Guilbeau
BATON ROUGE – New LSU basketball coach Will Wade has not exactly set the world on fire with his first hire.
Tony Benford, who never had a winning season in five years as former LSU coach Johnny Jones' replacement at North Texas, has been hired by Wade after getting fired at North Texas. His best season at North Texas was a 16-16 overall finish in his second season there in 2013-14. He had five consecutive losing seasons in conference play - 7-13 in his first season when North Texas was in the Sun Belt, then 6-10, 8-10, 7-11 and 2-16 in Conference USA. His last team finished 8-22 overall, and his overall record was 62-95 and 30-60 in league play.
Before North Texas, he was a well-traveled assistant coach and recruiter at New Mexico, Arizona State, Nebraska and Marquette.
"Tony is the next step in our efforts to build a winning basketball program that all LSU fans can be proud of," Wade said in an LSU Sports Information Department release. "His experience as both a head coach and long-time assistant on the recruiting trail will help us in our stated mission to recruit the best players that want to come to LSU and make LSU a consistent winner. Tony is also a fine on-court coach, and his track record shows that he is able to develop players that can live out their dreams once they have finished at LSU."
Benford, 53, served as the assistant and later associate head coach at Marquette (2008-12) after assistant coaching jobs at Nebraska (2006-08), Arizona State (1998-2006 and New Mexico (1992-98). During that time, he was tabbed by Basketball Times, Fox Sports and Hoop Scoop as one of the country's top assistant coaches in Division I basketball.
He has been part of teams that made 14 post-season appearances and has recruited and coached five NBA first-round draft picks, according to the LSU release - Ike Diogu (Arizona State, 2005); Charles Smith (New Mexico, 1997); Kenny Thomas (New Mexico, 1998); Lazar Hayward (Marquette, 2010); and, Jimmy Butler (Marquette, 2011). Six other players have been selected in the second round of the draft.
"I'm extremely excited to be a part of the basketball program at LSU," Benford said in the LSU release. "I think Coach Wade is one of the best young coaches in the country, and having the opportunity to work with him and restore the great tradition here at LSU is something I am really looking forward to. I feel like his style of play will be very attractive to recruits. I extremely excited to be a part of this great University and this great basketball program."
In six seasons with New Mexico, Benford helped the Lobos reach five NCAA Tournaments while winning 73.2 percent of their games. New Mexico picked up a pair of Western Athletic Conference tournament titles in 1993 and 1996, and a regular season championship in 1994. Benford assisted the Arizona State Sun Devils to four NCAA Tournament appearances during his tenure, and he recruited Pac-10 Players of the Year Diogu and Eddie House (2000).
Benford helped Marquette, where he was associate head coach his last two seasons, to the NCAA Sweet 16 in both 2011 and 2012. He helped recruit six All-Big East players to Marquette, including 2012 conference player of the year Jae Crowder, a second-team AP All-American.
A native of Hobbs, New Mexico, he played at Texas Tech and was the catalyst for the Red Raiders' Southwest Conference regular-season and tournament titles in 1985 and their 1986 Southwest Conference Tournament championship. He earned All-SWC and SWC Tournament MVP honors as a senior. He was a fourth-round pick in the 1986 NBA Draft of the Boston Celtics and played professionally in Holland during the 1986-87 season.
The Benford File:
Birthdate: March 22, 1964
Hometown: Hobbs, New Mexico
Education: Texas Tech, '92
Wife: Deborah
Children: Jeremy Soria, Audriana, Tony Jr., Milena
College Coaching Experience
1992-98 – Assistant Coach, University of New Mexico
1998-06 – Associate Head Coach, Arizona State University
July 2006 – Assistant Coach, UTEP
2006-08 – Assistant Coach, Nebraska
2008-11 – Assistant Coach, Marquette
2011-12 – Associate Head Coach, Marquette
2012-17 – Head Coach, University of North Texas
Glenn Guilbeau covers LSU sports for the USA Today Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter at @LSUBeatTweet. Coverage of LSU and commentary by Guilbeau supported by Hebert's Town & Country Automobile Dealer in Shreveport located at 1155 East Bert Kouns Loop. Research your next Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep or Ram at http://hebertstandc.com/.)