Steve McClain

Last updated

Steve McClain
Current position
TitleAssistant Coach
Team Tennessee
Conference SEC
Biographical details
Born (1962-08-15) August 15, 1962 (age 62)
Orient, Iowa, U.S.
Alma mater Chadron State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1982–1984 Chadron State (asst.)
1984 Sioux Empire JC (asst.)
1985 Independence CC (asst.)
1986–1991 Hutchinson CC (asst.)
1991–1994Hutchinson CC
1994–1998 TCU (asst.)
1998–2007 Wyoming
2007–2010 Colorado (asst.)
2010–2015 Indiana (asst.)
2015–2020 UIC
2020–2022 Georgia (asst.)
2022–2025 Texas (asst.)
2025–present Tennessee (asst.)
Head coaching record
Overall324–224 (.591)
Tournaments1–1 (NCAA Division I)
2–3 (NIT)
2–1 (CBI)
3–1 (CIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NJCAA Division I tournament (1994)
2 KJCCC regular season (1993, 1994)
2 MWC regular season (2001, 2002)
Awards
MWC Coach of the Year (2002)

Steven James McClain (born August 15, 1962) is an assistant basketball coach at Tennessee. Previously, he was an assistant basketball coach at Texas for three seasons. McClain was also the head coach at the University of Illinois Chicago [1] for five seasons. Prior to UIC, he had spent five seasons on the staff of Tom Crean at Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team.

Contents

Coaching career

Hutchinson Community College

McClain was the head basketball coach at Hutchinson CC from 1991 to 1994. While there, they won a NJCAA national championship during the 1993–94 season. His overall record at Hutchinson was 91–16.

Wyoming

McClain was the head basketball coach at Wyoming from 1998 to 2007. In four out of his 9 seasons, Wyoming had made it to either the NCAA tournament, or the NIT tournament. His overall record at Wyoming was 157–115. However, after a disappointing 2006 campaign where he went 17–15, with no postseason berth, he was fired. In the 2002 NCAA tournament, Wyoming made it to the second round, which was their best finish since 1987. He was named the MWC coach of the year that season.

Steve McClain was known for his very animated and intense coaching style during games.[ citation needed ]

His teams have won two regular season conference championships. In six out of the 8 seasons he has coached in the MWC, at least one of his players has received First team All MWC honors. From 2000 to 2002, the Cowboys won at least 20 games in all three of their seasons, marking the first time that happened in two decades.

UIC

McClain parted ways with UIC after five seasons on March 13, 2020 after a 18–17 season that fell 1 win short of an NCAA tournament bid. [2] [3]

Assistant coach

As an assistant at Colorado, McClain served as acting head coach during the absence of head coach Jeff Bzdelik for a portion of the 2009–10 season. He helped lead the Buffaloes to a 15–16 record, with seven of those losses coming by six points or less. While at Texas, McClain was a part of the Longhorns Big-12 Tournament Championship as well as an Elite-8 finish in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

On April 22, 2020, Georgia announced the hiring of McClain as an assistant coach, reuniting him with Tom Crean who was the head coach at Indiana where McClain was the assistant for the 2010–15 seasons. [4]

In 2022, McClain was hired by Texas as an assistant coach. After the departure of Rodney Terry at the end of the 2024-25 season, McClain left Texas and was hired at Tennessee.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Hutchinson Blue Dragons (Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference)(1991–1994)
1991–92Hutchinson CC 27–76–64thNJCAA Division I Regional
1992–93Hutchinson CC 29–511–1T–1stNJCAA Division I Regional
1993–94Hutchinson CC 35–410–2T–1st NJCAA Division I Champion
Hutchinson CC:91–16 (.850)27–9 (.750)
Wyoming Cowboys (Western Athletic Conference)(1998–1999)
1998–99 Wyoming 18–107–7T–4th (Mountain) NIT Second Round
Wyoming Cowboys (Mountain West Conference)(1999–2007)
1999–00 Wyoming 19–128–6T–4th
2000–01 Wyoming 20–1010–4T–1st NIT First Round
2001–02 Wyoming 22–911–31st NCAA Division I Round of 32
2002–03 Wyoming 21–118–6T–4th NIT Second Round
2003–04 Wyoming 11–174–108th
2004–05 Wyoming 15–137–7T–4th
2005–06 Wyoming 14–185–117th
2006–07 Wyoming 17–157–95th
Wyoming:157–115 (.577)73–71 (.507)
UIC Flames (Horizon League)(2015–2020)
2015–16 UIC 5–253–1510th
2016–17 UIC 17–197–116th CBI Semifinals
2017–18 UIC 20–1612–63rd CIT Runner-Up
2018–19 UIC 16–1610–85th
2019–20 UIC 18–1710–8T-4th
UIC:76–93 (.450)42–48 (.467)
Total:324–224 (.591)

      National champion        Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

  1. "UIC Flames hire Indiana Hoosiers assistant Steve McClain as head coach".
  2. Greenstein, Teddy. "UIC dismisses coach Steve McClain after Flames fall 1 win short of an NCAA Tournament bid. 'I'm proud of what we did here,' McClain says". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  3. "UIC fires basketball coach Steve McClain after 5 seasons". USA TODAY. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  4. "Tom Crean hires Steve McClain to fill out Georgia hoops staff". Dawgs247. Retrieved April 23, 2020.