Rich Zvosec

Rich Zvosec
Sport(s) Basketball
Biographical details
Born March 13, 1961
Lorain, Ohio
Playing career
1981–1983 Defiance
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1988–1991
1991–1997
1997–1998
1998–2000
2000–2001
2001–2007
St. Francis (NY)
North Florida
Millersville
Saint Peter's (asst.)
Missouri–Kansas City (asst.)
Missouri–Kansas City
Accomplishments and honors

Awards

NEC Coach of the Year (1991)
Mid-Con Coach of the Year (2005)

Rich Zvosec (born March 13, 1961) is a television broadcaster for ESPN and Fox Sports, motivational speaker and a Telly Award winning actor, a former American college basketball coach and college administrator. After a 25 year coaching career, he currently serves as the associate athletics director for Arkansas State University.

Life

Zvosek was born in Lorain, Ohio, and graduated from Lorain Catholic High School in 1979. He enrolled at Defiance College, where he played basketball and earned a bachelor's degree in business. In 1988 he became head coach of Saint Francis College Terriers, becoming the youngest Division I coach in the country at age 27. In his third year, the Terriers recorded the program's first winning season since 1978 and had the most DI wins in two decades. Zvosec left in 1991, and became head coach for the University of North Florida North Florida Ospreys, the first in school history. In 1997 he left UNF for one year at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.[1] In 2001 he succeeded Dean Demopoulos as head coach for the University of Missouri–Kansas City Kangaroos. Four of his six teams at UMKC finished with winning records. He also finished with one of the highest winning percentages in conference play while at the school, and the most conference wins in school history. He led the Kangaroos to a 93-52 win over Kansas State in December 2003, the school's 200th win and their first over the Wildcats. He left with the highest winning percentage in school history. Zvosec also had the second highest Mid-Continent Conference winning percentage during his six-year tenure. Zvosec was fired from UMKC on March 13, 2007. He subsequently worked as a color commentator for ESPN.[2] Zvosec was inducted into the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame on May 3, 2007. In 2013, he became the associate athletic director of Arkansas State University.[3]

References

  1. "LancasterOnline.com: Archives". Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  2. "UMKC fires basketball coach Rich Zvosec after 12-20 season". USA Today. March 14, 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  3. "Former UMKC coach Rich Zvosec headed to Arkansas State as administrator" (February 22, 2013). Kansas City Star. Retrieved March 11, 2013.