Tad Boyle

Thomas "Tad" Boyle (born January 6, 1963) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at the University of Colorado. He was named the 18th coach in University of Colorado men's basketball history on April 19, 2010 ^[1] replacing Jeff Bzdelik. He played collegiately at Kansas under coach Ted Owens and Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown.

While playing for the Jayhawks, Boyle played on two NCAA Tournament teams in 1984 and 1985.^[2] He served as team captain his senior year, which was 1988 NBA Draft choice Danny Manning's freshman season and University of Maryland coach Mark Turgeon's sophomore season.^[1]

Before heading to play collegiately at Kansas, Boyle was a standout performer at Greeley Central High School, where he led the Wildcats to a state championship as a senior in 1981 and earned Colorado Player of the Year honors as well as being selected to the Converse All-American team. His high school jersey was retired at the conclusion of his senior season.^[3]

Collegiate coaching history

Early coaching jobs

After earning a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Kansas in 1985,he became a commodities broker in Kansas City.^[4] In 1986 he returned to Colorado and his continued his career as a Commodities Broker where Boyle also got back into basketball and went on to serve for six years as a high school basketball coach at various Colorado programs. He was the sophomore basketball coach at Greeley (Colo.) West for a year and then was an assistant coach at Loveland (Colo.) High School for two years. From there, he served at Longmont (Colo.) High School for three years.

A car accident in 1994 changed Boyle's career forever. Boyle was heading to work one morning when somebody ran a red light and plowed into his vehicle at the intersection of McCaslin Boulevard and South Boulder Road in Louisville Colorado. The collision crushed the front of Boyle's car.He was knocked unconscious, but the air bag likely saved his life. At that point, Boyle was earning six figures as a stockbroker and considered his "other" job, as head coach at Longmont High, to be little more than a hobby. Later that year, Boyle received a phone call from his former University of Kansas teammate, Mark Turgeon, the current Maryland coach, then an assistant at Oregon. Mark stated that there was an opening on Oregon's staff but it was a restricted earnings position that earned $16,000 a year. Boyle, not married at the time, decided to take the plunge into a full-time coaching gig.^[5]

Oregon

It was at Kansas that Boyle played alongside Turgeon, whom he also coached with at Oregon under Jerry Green. Boyle's first collegiate coaching job in 1994 was on Green's Ducks staff, where he spent three seasons and helped the Ducks to the 1995 NCAA Tournament and the 1997 National Invitational Tournament.

Tennessee

In 1997, Boyle followed Green to Tennessee, where he was director of basketball operations when the Vols won 20 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Jacksonville State

Boyle reconnected with Turgeon the following year, this time as an assistant coach at Jacksonville State (Ala.), where they helped turn a team that was 8-18 into a 17-11 squad in just one season.

Wichita State

Boyle spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Wichita State and was part of another turn around that saw the Shockers improve from 9-19 (.321) his first year there to one of the nation's top mid-major teams in 2006 when Wichita State went 26-9 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Shockers eventually lost to Final Four Cinderella George Mason in the regional semifinals, but not before they had secured the No. 21 ranking in the final collegiate polls.

Head coaching jobs

Northern Colorado

Prior to his arrival to Boulder, Boyle resurrected the basketball program at the University of Northern Colorado, where he guided the Bears to a 56-66 record (.459) in four seasons, including a breakout season in 2009-10, when the Bears were 25-8 (.758) and finished second in the Big Sky Conference. For his efforts, he was awarded the NABC Division I All-District Coach of the Year, the Big Sky Coach of the Year by both The Sporting News and CollegeInsider.com, where he was also named a finalist for the National Mid-Major Coach of the Year award.^[6]

University of Colorado^[7]

Tad was named the 18th coach in University of Colorado men's basketball history on April 19, 2010. "This is it (my dream job), there's no doubt," Boyle said after being named head coach. "I remember talking with Mark Turgeon once when he asked me where I wanted to be in 10 years, and I said the head coach at the University of Colorado. This is a destination job. I'm humbled and honored." ^[8]

In his first season in Boulder, Boyle led the Buffs to a school-record 18 home wins and their highest Big 12 finish (t-5th) since 2005-06. CU ranked first in the Big 12 and fifth nationally in free throw percentage (77.8) for the 2010-11 season. Boyle's efficient attack also ranked 12th nationally in scoring (79.6 ppg) and 19th nationally in field goal percentage (47.3).

Boyle earned National Coach of the Week honors (Hoops Report, Jan. 10-16) after leading the Buffs to a 3-0 conference start, including wins over No. 9/8 Missouri and No. 21/20 Kansas State. The win over the Wildcats gave CU its first road win over a nationally ranked opponent since defeating No. 20 Texas Tech in January 1997. For the season, CU defeated four ranked teams, including a comeback of 22 points down (ranking second all-time in school history) to upset No. 5/5 Texas, 91-89.^[6]

In his second season at the helm Tad faced an uphill battle, losing 4 starters, 78% of the scoring and most notably Alec Burks to the NBA (#12 overall pick to the Utah Jazz). He was able turn all of this into his second 24 win season in a row, a Pac-12 tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament as a #11 seed where CU advanced to the round of 32 for the first time in 15 years after beating #6 seed UNLV 68-64 in Albuquerque.

Recruiting

Going into the 2012 off-season Tad has recruited a top 25 class for the first time in CU history. The class includes 2 Top-100 recruits in Mater Dei H.S. (Temecula, CA) forward Xavier Johnson and Lewis-Palmer H.S.^[9] (Monument, CO) forward Josh Scott.^[10]

Other jobs

After his first year at CU, Boyle received interest for the head coaching position at Texas A&M vacated by his old friend Mark Turgeon, after Mark left to be the head coach at Maryland. Tad rebuffed this interest and stayed at his "dream job" at CU.^[11]

Following his second season at CU, Boyle continued to draw interest from other programs and his name was linked with the Nebraska and Kansas State openings, although he once again denied interest in both jobs stating "I want to do something special here at Colorado. I don’t have any interest in other jobs. I would love it if CU were my last job."^[12]

Fan following

Under Boyle's leadership, there have been several sell-outs for CU games at Coors Event Center and increased season ticket sales. Several thousand fans also made the trip to Albuquerque for CU-UNLV and CU-Baylor NCAA tournament games. Colorado Athletic Director Mike Bohn responded to increased student interest by flying 50 students, all-expenses paid to Los Angeles for the PAC-12 tournament and taking 100 students to the NCAA tournament games in Albuquerque.^[13]

Home Court Advantage

Boyle has accumulated an outstanding home court record during his time at Colorado. This is partly due to the help of the C-Unit and the aggressiveness they bring to the Coors Event Center. Boyle's all-time home record is 51-7.

Personal life

Boyle is married to the former Ann Schell of Greeley, and they have two sons, Jack and Pete, and a daughter, Claire.^[14]

Head coaching record

External links

• University of Colorado profile

Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Colorado Buffaloes hire Tad Boyle as coach - ESPN
2. ↑ Bedore, Gary (2011-02-19). "Coaches Bill Self, Tad Boyle to collide again Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved 2011-02-19. "Boyle — he started 34 games his first two seasons at KU, then came off the bench his final two seasons — played on two NCAA Tournament teams (1984, ’85) and was part of the 1984 Big Eight postseason tourney championship squad. He served as team captain his senior year, which was Danny Manning’s freshman season." 
3. ↑ Tad Boyle CUBUFFS.com BIO - http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204940904
4. ↑ Woodling, Chuck. "Armed with degree, Boyle to tackle commodities business" Lawrence Journal-World, March 13, 1985.
5. ↑ Car accident changed Buffs basketball coach Tad Boyle's destiny Read more: Car accident changed Buffs basketball coach Tad Boyle's destiny - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/cu/ci_14953701
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tad Boyle CUBUFFS.com BIO http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3897&SPID=257&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204940904&Q_SEASON=2011
7. ↑ University of Colorado - Boulder http://colorado.edu/
8. ↑ CUBUFFS.com Bio - http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3897&SPID=257&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204940904&Q_SEASON=2011
9. ↑ Xavier Johnson ESPN Recruiting Page http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/70482/xavier-johnson
10. ↑ Josh Scott ESPN Recruiting Page http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/130252/josh-scott
11. ↑ CU Buffs' Tad Boyle not leaving for Texas A&M http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-college-sports/ci_18049230
12. ↑ C-U NEXT YEAR http://www.milehighsports.com/?p=9331
13. ↑ Trips for loyal CU Buffs fans cost $67,200 in private donations http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_20210327/trips-loyal-cu-buffs-fans-cost-67-200
14. ↑ CUBUFFS.com Bio http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3897&SPID=257&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204940904&Q_SEASON=2011