Larry Eustachy, the 2000 Associated Press and U.S. Basketball Writers Association National Coach of the Year, enters his sixth season as head coach of the Colorado State men’s basketball program in 2017-18. He was introduced as the 19th head coach in the history of the CSU basketball on April 12, 2012.
This past season, Eustachy has led the Rams to a 24-12 record and 13-5 in the Mountain West, finishing second in the regular season after being picked seventh in the preseason poll. His squad’s effort earned Eustachy the Mountain West Coach of the Year honors from both the coaches and the media this season as well as NABC District 17 and USBWA District Coach of the Year awards.
One of the most decorated active coaches in NCAA basketball, Eustachy enters his 27th season as a head coach as the only head coach in Division I history to lead five different programs - CSU, Southern Miss, Iowa State, Utah State and Idaho - to 24 or more wins in a season. With a career record of 513-318 (.617), Eustachy ranks as one of just 75 head coaches (out of 351 Division I programs) to have a .600 or better win percentage with a minimum of five years experience. He is just one of 66 coaches with more than 500 Division I victories and starts the season 18th on the active career wins list as just one of 20 active coaches with the 500 victories. He is also one of just 33 coaches in the ranking with at least 20 years of Division I experience.
At Colorado State, he put together the most wins in a four-year span of the program with 87 (2012-16), surpassing Boyd Grant’s 81 victories (1988-91). He begins his sixth season with the highest winning percentage among coaches with at least three years at the school at .644 and ranks third with 111 victories in Fort Collins. His teams have also won more than 80 percent of their games at CSU’s Moby Arena in his five years of leadership.
In his first year at the helm, Eustachy led the Rams to arguably the best season in school history, guiding the squad to a then-program-best 26-9 record, and an NCAA Tournament victory over the Missouri Tigers before bowing out against eventual national champion Louisville.The Rams also cracked the Associated Press top 25 for first time since 1954.
Eustachy continued to rewrite the Rams’ record books in his third season in 2014-15, leading the Rams to a school-record 14-0 start before once again notching a program-best season record at 27-7. The Rams’ advanced to the postseason (NIT) for the second time in three years under his watch, and ranked for two weeks in the AP Top-25 and three weeks in the USA Today Coaches poll.
The 2015-16 season had its ups and downs with several key injuries, but the Rams still managed to put together their fourth consecutive .500 or better season under Eustachy. The squad led the Mountain West in scoring and set school records in points, scoring average, 3-pointers made and 3-pointers attempted.
A veteran mentor with more than 35 seasons of coaching experience - including 26 seasons as a head coach - Eustachy has amassed an impressive 489-306 record in stops at Idaho (1990-93), Utah State (1993-98), Iowa State (1998-03) and Southern Miss (2004-12) and CSU (2012-present), leading his squads to 11 campaigns of 20 or more victories, eight postseason berths (including five NCAA tournament appearances), and six conference championships.
Eustachy, a native of Alameda, Calif., and a 1979 graduate of Long Beach State University, has garnered numerous coaching honors throughout his illustrious career. In addition to his two National Coach of the Year nods in 2000, he was also the 2001 runner-up for the AP’s top coaching honor.
Â
Lana & Larry Eustachy
He was twice named the Big West and Big 12 Coach of the Year during stints at Utah State (1995 and 1998) and Iowa State (2000 and 2001), respectively, and joined the Rams after leading his Southern Miss Golden Eagles’ squad to 25 wins in 2011-12 to earn the 2012 Conference USA Coach of the Year award. Eustachy is also the reigning National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 17 Coach of the Year.
Eustachy’s coaching career began at the age of 22 as an assistant coach at Citrus (Calif.) College, where he played two seasons after a standout prep career at Arcadia High School. From 1981-90 Eustachy honed his skills as an assistant at Division I schools Mississippi State (1981-86), Idaho (1986-87), Utah (1987-89) and Ball State (1989-90) before taking his first head coaching job at Idaho (1990-93).
Following his stint at Idaho, Eustachy spent five seasons (1993-98) as the head coach at Utah State (1993-98). He then took over for close friend Tim Floyd at Iowa State, spending five seasons in Ames, Iowa, and leading the Cyclones to the Elite Eight in the 2000 NCAA tournament.
Eustachy spent the previous eight seasons at Southern Miss, where he resurrected the Golden Eagles program and led USM to four 20 win seasons, including each of his last three campaigns in Hattiesburg.
Eustachy is a native of Alameda, Calif. He and his wife Lana live in Fort Collins. Eustachy has three sons, Hayden, Evan and Chase.
Â
LARRY EUSTACHY AT A GLANCE
