The University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Thursday that Zac Roman, who was the head coach at Highland Community College (HCC) from 2010-12, is a new Broncs women’s basketball assistant coach.
Roman led the Cougars to a 51-16 record in his two years at the helm. They won back-to-back Arrowhead Conference championships and Roman earned Arrowhead Conference Coach of the Year both times. He was also named Region IV coach of the year after they won the Region IV championship in 2011. Roman recruited and coached two Junior College All-Americans as well.
Roman became the head coach after one season as an assistant coach at HCC, when they won 23 games in 2009-10.
“I am honored and humbled to be a part of Coach Tidwell’s first staff here at UTPA," Roman said. "He’s a proven winner that knows what it takes to turn around a program. I am excited to be a part of this great University and look forward to bringing the Rio Grande Valley a basketball program they will be excited about and proud of.”
Roman spent the previous two seasons at Southeast Missouri State University, where he was acting head coach during the 2008-09 season after serving as an assistant coach the previous year.
He came to Southeast after serving five seasons as an assistant coach and interim head coach at Johnson County Community College. During the 2007-08 season, he guided the team to an 11-9 record, Region VI Championship, District 10 Championship and the school’s second appearance in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament. In addition, he was named NJCAA District 10 Coach of the Year.
As an assistant coach at Johnson County, Roman helped to guide the team to two Region VI titles and six of his players earned East Jayhawk Conference honors, two were named NJCAA pre-season All-Americans and two earned Academic All-American accolades.
An active summer basketball camp coach, Roman has served on camp staffs for Kansas coach Bill Self, Oregon coach Dana Altman and former Denver coach Terry Carroll.
His high school coaching experience includes head freshmen coach and camp director at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School in Wichita, Kan.
“I’m very excited about having Zac down here to coach. Zac will be my offensive coordinator and he’ll be working a lot with guard play,” Broncs head coach Larry Tidwell said. “Zac has walked the sidelines as a head coach in Division I. He knows all of the intricacies that go with building a program. I’m very happy to have him here. Zac is along the same lines as the great assistant coaches I had in my tenure at Lamar. He’s very positive, has a lot of energy, and is hard working and passionate.”
A nine-time high school letter winner in basketball, baseball and cross country, Roman turned down several National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and junior college basketball offers to pursue a baseball career. He played two seasons at Pratt Community College before a shoulder injury ended his playing career.
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