Concordia University Texas Director of Athletics Stan Bonewitz announced on Thursday, May 9 the hiring of Matt Wallis as head women’s basketball coach. He comes to Concordia after spending four seasons as the head coach of the women’s program at Schreiner.
“I am really excited to welcome Matt Wallis to our CTX family,” said Bonewitz. “He brings over 10 years of experience at the Division III level as a player and a coach to the position. I am very confident that our women’s basketball program will continue to compete at a high level under his leadership.”
At Schreiner, Wallis most recently guided the Mountaineers to their best season in school history this past winter. The program set a school record for victories, led the American Southwest Conference in 3-point field goal percentage defense and ranked second in the ASC in scoring defense. In addition, the program posted a team grade point average of 3.12 during the 2012 fall semester.
Wallis, who coached eight All-ASC honorees and nine players who made the ASC Spring Academic Honor Roll, was also actively involved in other areas of the Schreiner Athletics Department. He implemented a study hall program for seven athletics teams, hired and managed 40 work study positions and served as a gameday administrator at home athletic events around the basketball season.
Prior to Schreiner, Wallis served as an assistant coach with the Texas-Dallas women’s program and helped lead the Comets to their two best seasons in school history at the time. The Comets recorded their first winning campaign with a 16-10 record in 2007-08 before registering a school-record 21 victories, which included being ranked as high as 17th nationally, during the 2008-09 season.
Beginning in 2002, Wallis served as the first head men’s basketball coach at Texas-Tyler for five seasons and made an immediate impact on the sidelines. The Patriots, who would go on to place second in the ASC East Division in only their second year of varsity competition, also posted the second-highest winning percentage among NCAA Division III provisional members.
Wallis, who held assistant coaching positions at Texas Wesleyan and Montana State, competed collegiately at Austin College between 1994-97 when the school was an ASC member. He most notably captained the 1996-97 team that won the ASC championship and was honorably mentioned for all-conference laurels after averaging 13.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game as a senior. Wallis stayed at the school for two more seasons between 1997 and 1999 as a graduate assistant women’s basketball coach and helped lead the program to back-to-back NCAA Division III Tournament appearances.
“It is truly a privilege to be a part of the Concordia family,” stated Wallis. “I have always admired what the department has accomplished in all areas, and I am excited to continue building on what is already a strong foundation that has been put in place. Our goal will be to reach new heights every year.”
Wallis earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education at Austin College in 1997 and a master’s in kinesiology from Texas A&M-Commerce in 1998. He is a native of Arlington, Texas and currently resides in Austin.
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