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Blugold Men's Basketball

Men's Basketball Head Coach - Terry Gibbons

Coach Terry Gibbons
Terry Gibbons

Terry Gibbons begins his 13th season as the men’s basketball coach at UW-Eau Claire. Gibbons has been in Eau Claire for the past 18 years being part of 317 victories averaging almost 18 wins per season.

Gibbons has been a collegiate basketball coach for 24 seasons accumulating 379 wins during that stretch. Gibbons ranks ninth on the winning percentage with coaches having over 10 years of coaching experience (.584) within the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) and 14th on the WIAC all-time wins list with 185.

Academically Blugold basketball players have won the Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete award for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. This award is presented to the most outstanding senior WIAC men’s basketball player who exhibits achievement in academics, athletics and leadership. The Blugold men’s basketball team has had 56 student-athletes named to the WIAC Men’s Scholastic Honor Roll over the last eight years. To be eligible, the student-athlete must maintain a 3.0 grade-point average or higher throughout the academic year to earn the honor. The men’s basketball team has also been recognized for its academic success by having a team member receive the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Super Six Award in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The Super Six Award recognizes three male and three female student-athletes who epitomize the ideals of intercollegiate athletics as an educational experience at UW-Eau Claire.

Under Gibbons, the Blugolds won the 2001 WIAC Tournament and qualified for the NCAA post-season tournament two times, advancing to the second round in 2001 and reaching the national title game in 2000. In 2000, Gibbons earned NCAA West Region Coach of the Year honors and was the Division III National Coach of the Year runner-up. Gibbons also served three years as the NCAA Tournament Committee Representative for the West Region.

As the head coach at UW-Eau Claire, Gibbons has coached three All-Americans, seven All-Region, 12 first team All-WIAC selections and 2000 Final Four Most Valuable Player Sherm Carstensen.

Prior to becoming head coach of the Blugolds, Gibbons spent six seasons as UW-Eau Claire’s top assistant and was the head coach at Western State College (CO) for four years. When he took over the Western team, he was the youngest four-year college coach in the country. He rebuilt the Mountaineers from a team that averaged four wins and 20 losses a season for the two decades prior to his arrival to a squad that earned its first-ever NAIA National Tournament appearance in 1987. He was named District 7 Coach of the Year for his efforts.

At Western State, the team broke 47 of 63 team and individual records and he finished as the third winningest coach in Western’s history after just four seasons. Gibbons has also served as an NAIA rater, a member of the All-America selection committee and the NAIA national tournament committee where he served as the district basketball chair.

During the summer, Gibbons is the camp director of the UW-Eau Claire Badger Basketball Camps which has enrolled over 7,500 campers in the last 13 years.

Gibbons received his bachelor’s degree from UW-Oshkosh in 1983 and his master’s from Western in 1985. He grew up in Antigo where he played basketball under current Eau Claire North coach Pat Hammond and former Eau Claire Memorial coach John Nicholas.

Gibbons also teaches in the Department of Kinesiology. He and his wife Yvonne are the parents of three daughters: Haley, Hannah and Hope.

Updated 11/2/07

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