JONESBORO, Ark. (3/29/19) – Arkansas State University has hired Jonesboro native Matt Daniel as the head coach of the womens basketball program, Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics Terry Mohajir announced Friday.
An introductory press conference for Daniel is set for 11 a.m. Monday inside the auditorium at First National Bank Arena. Fans are encouraged to attend and the event will be streamed live on the A-State Athletics Facebook page.
Daniel comes to Arkansas State after a recent five-year stop at Marshall as the head coach. He becomes the seventh coach in program history.
In his five seasons as head coach of the Thundering Herd, Daniel won 71 games and led the team to its first 20-plus win season in school history. He led the team to a pair of postseason appearances, including its first ever inclusion in the Womens National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in 2015-16.
When Daniel arrived in Huntington, W.V., he spent the first two seasons working to rebuild the Thundering Herd program. The work paid off in 2014-15 when the squad posted a winning record and took part in the Womens Basketball Invitational (WBI) tournament.
Marshall also excelled in the classroom under Daniels watch, as it placed 28 members on the Conference USA Commissioners Honor Roll (3.0 cumulative GPA or better) and three more were given the Commissioners Academic Medal (3.75).
Prior to his stop at Marshall, Daniel led Central Arkansas to three consecutive 20-win seasons, including a regular-season Southland Conference championship in 2011. He had an overall record of 66-26 in his final three seasons in Conway including a mark of 24-7 and a berth in the 2011 WNIT. He was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2012.
Preceding his time at UCA, Daniel was an assistant at the University of Missouri where he helped the Tigers go 21-10 in his first season and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers followed up with a 17-win campaign the next season and played in the WNIT.
Daniel began his coaching career as a mens graduate assistant at Arizona State in 1998-99 before becoming an assistant mens coach at UT Arlington (1999-2003). Daniel was the head boys basketball coach at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock for the 2003-04 season and led the Bruins to a 34-1 record and a national ranking. Daniel then went to Colorado as a womens assistant coach for one year, serving as the teams lead recruiter.
Daniel was named Mr. Basketball of Arkansas in 1994 at Jonesboro High School and was the Most Valuable Player of the 4A State Tournament in leading the Hurricanes to the state championship.
He played two seasons at Colorado where he helped the Buffs to an NIT bid as a freshman in 1994-95 and was the first freshman to start in the postseason in CU history. He was also an Academic All-Big Eight selection in 1995.
Daniel, who earned his bachelors from Harding University in 1998, and his wife Dr. Jennifer Daniel have two daughters, Steele (6) and Brett (4).
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