High Point University Men's Basketball

High Point University President Nido R. Qubein announced the hiring of Flynn Clayman as the new men's basketball head coach on Friday, April 11th, 2025. Clayman becomes the 15th men's basketball head coach in program history. As a first-year head coach, Coach Clayman continued High Point’s success at the mid-major level guiding the Panthers back to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season in 2025-26. As the 12-seed, HPU made history with its first-ever tournament win with an upset over No. 5 seed Wisconsin, 83-82 to make the Round of 32. This was HPU's first win over. Power 4 team. The Panthers hoisted the Big South championship trophy and cut down the nets for the second time in program history and become the first Big South team to win back-to-back tournament championships since Winthrop from 2019-21. Coach Clayman was the first head coach in Big South history to win the Big South Championship in his first-year since 1998-99. HPU finished the season with a Big South and program record, 31-5, breaking the program and conference record of 29 wins set by High Point last season and Winthrop in 2006-07.  Clayman guided the Panthers to their third straight Big South Regular-Season title and No. 1 seed entering the Big South Tournament. In league play, HPU set a program record going 15-1. High Point has registered three straight 27-win seasons, which is the most consecutive seasons by a Big South member in conference history and the seventh 20-win season in program history. High Point's 27 regular-season wins was the most in Big South and program history, breaking the previous record set by the Panthers in 2024-25 (26). On the home court, the Panthers have protected the extraordinary Qubein Center with only four losses, posting a record of 48-4. In back-to-back-to-back seasons, the Panthers set the non-conference win record since becoming Division I in 1999, recording 11 wins in 2023-24, and 12 wins in 2024-25 and 2025-26.   Coach Clayman was voted a finalist for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year, given to the top first-time head coaches in college basketball. He was voted the Big South Co-Coach of the Year following the regular-season and early in the season he was voted the Field of 68 Mid-Major Coach of the Week.   High Point finished the season 3rd in the CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25 poll -- highest placement in program history -- and have been in the poll for 56 consecutive weeks which is the longest streak in Big South program history, beating Winthrop’s 48 game streak from 2005-2007. HPU also ranked in the Field of 68 mid-major rankings, finishing 7th at the end of the season. In the final weeks of the season, High Point was receiving votes in the Associate Press poll and received as many as 14 votes on March 15, the most ever by a Panthers team. Throughout the 2025-26 season, High Point performed in the top 25 in national statistical categories finishing out the regular-season as 1st in steals per game (10.9), 1st in scoring margin (19.7), 4th in assist/turnover ratio (1.74), 3rd in free throws made (19.9), 3rd in scoring offense (90.0), 3rd in fastbreak points (18.88), 19th in effective field goal percentage (56.6%), and 20th in field goal percentage (49.1%).  Coach Clayman capped his first-year historic season coaching the All-Star East game in the Reese's NABC College All-Star game during the weekend of the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four. He was named the 2026 Red Auerbach Coach of the Year. In May Clayman also joined the USA Basketball Coaches Academy. Prior to becoming HPU's head coach in 2025-26, Clayman spent the two previous seasons as the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at High Point University and has helped compile and overall record of 56-15 with a 27-5 Big South record.  Clayman helped lead the Panthers to their first ever-NCAA tournament appearance as the No. 13 seed and matched up against No. 4 seed Purdue. Clayman helped turn around an under .500 program and guided the Panthers to back-to-back outright Big South Regular Season titles for the first time in program history. High Point became the first team in the Big South since 2011 (Coastal Carolina) to win back-to-back outright regular season titles. Clayman helped lead an offense that finished 3rd in the NCAA in KenPom rankings for raw offensive efficiency, trailing only Duke and Gonzaga, and ahead of 2025 NCAA National Champion Florida. Clayman directed the top two offenses in Big South history the past two seasons and has been a part of five straight twenty win seasons, the last three as Associate Head Coach.  Clayman has been an assistant coach for 123 wins at High Point and Southern Utah the last five seasons, which is the 13th most in the country.    During the 2024-25 season, HPU finished with an overall record of 29-6, a 26-5 regular-season record and a 14-2 league record. In the Collegeinsider.com Top 25 poll, High Point reached as high as No. 5 on February 5, 2024 and finished the 2024-25 regular season on March 17, 2025 ranked No. 8. High Point also received votes in the Associated Press poll four times during the 2024-25 season, receiving as many as four votes in the poll on March 3, 2025. Prior to High Point University, Clayman was the Associate Head Coach at Southern Utah and spent six seasons at Southern Utah University. In the summer of 2022, Clayman was promoted to associate head coach after serving as the assistant coach from 2019-2022 and a special assistant from 2017-2019. Clayman recently finished out the 2022-23 season as the interim head coach where he led the Thunderbirds to a 2-1 record at the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) postseason tournament. During the 2022-23 season, Clayman helped guide the Thunderbirds to a 24-13 record with a 12-6 record in the inaugural season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The team finished third overall in the WAC regular season, earning a No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. The Thunderbirds advanced to the conference championship game and finished as the runner-up. The Thunderbirds received a bid to the CBI postseason tournament as the No. 4 seed, and advanced to the CBI semifinals before getting knocked out by Eastern Kentucky in double overtime. For the third straight season, Southern Utah posted the programs highest NET and KenPom ranking with multiple weeks in Mid-Major Top-25.   In the summer of 2022, Clayman was named one of the "Most Impactful Assistant Coaches in Mid Major College Basketball" by Silver Waves Media. Prior to the 2021-2022 season, he was selected for the Big Sky Conference Big Sky U Aspiring Head Coaches development program, as selected by administrators across the conference.    Clayman played an integral role in the programs recruiting and player development, resulting in the programs first and only three First Team All-Big Sky players, Tevian Jones (2021 & 2023) and John Knight III (2022). Clayman's additional responsibilities included game planning and academic liaison.    Prior to coaching at the collegiate level, Clayman was the AUSA Hoops head coach in Sydney, Australia from 2015-2017. He helped 30 players from Australia make it to NCAA Division I programs such as LSU, Creighton, Stanford, TCU, and USC among many other schools. While still playing professionally, Clayman's first coaching experience came as an assistant coach for BTI Basketball Club in the summer of 2015, an AAU club out of the Los Angeles, coaching former Utah Jazz Player, current OKC Thunder player, and 2019 Ivy League Player of the Year, Miye Oni. Before diving into coaching, Clayman played professionally for four years overseas from 2012-2016, making stops at the Republic of Georgia, Brazil, and Israel. While playing with the Republic of Georgia, he was named the Eurobasket.com Rookie of the Year and an All-Star Selection. Clayman was amongst the top three in the Ecuadorian League in three-point field goals and points per game average. Clayman started his collegiate career at Colorado State University and played under head coach Tim Miles from 2007-2009. He transferred to Troy University in 2009 where he played two seasons for 500-win head coach Don Maestri. In 2010, the Trojans won the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship and played in the NIT. He went on to play a final season (2011-12) at the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky where his team won the Mid-South Conference Championship and reached the National Tournament in Kansas City. During that season he led the NAIA in three-point field goal percentage at 48.1%. Clayman earned his Bachelor of Social Science in 2016 and a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies in Sports Conditioning and Performance, Communications, and Leadership in 2022. A native of Los Angeles, California, Clayman attended Venice High School where he played for two-time NBA champion assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, Rasheed Hazzard, who served under Phil Jackson. Flynn is married to HPU women's basketball assistant coach Katie Clayman, and they have a son, Quinn.

The High Point University men’s basketball team added Assistant Coach Antoine Young to the staff during the summer of 2024. Over the past season with the Panthers, he helped the staff lead the Panthers to their first ever-NCAA tournament appearance as the No. 13 seed and matched up against No. 4 seed Purdue. He helped the staff turn around an under .500 program and guided the Panthers to back-to-back outright Big South Regular Season titles for the first time in program history. High Point became the first team in the Big South since 2011 (Coastal Carolina) to win back-to-back outright regular season titles. HPU finished with an overall record of 29-6 during the 2024-25 season, which tied for the most wins in Big South program history (Winthrop, 2006-07) and the most wins in HPU program history. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 26-5 record and a 14-2 league record. The 26 regular-season wins is the most in program history and tied the Big South regular-season wins record with Coastal Carolina's 2010-11 season (26-4). The Panthers also set the best win percentage in Division I era with an 88-percent win percentage in conference play and an 84-percentage win percentage in the regular season. Young joined the High Point staff after spending six seasons as an assistant coach with the Nebraska-Kearney men’s basketball program. He became interim head coach in November 2023 and joined the Lopers in the summer of 2018.  Young helped the Lopers to a winning season in 2019-20, UNK went 16-13, defeating NCAA Tourney qualifiers Rogers State and Colorado School of Mines. The Lopers qualified for the MIAA Tournament, had three seniors tabbed All-MIAA and posted an 11-3 mark in the Health & Sports Center.    In a COVID shortened 2020-21 season, the Lopers went 8-14 with nearly every game decided in the last five minutes. UNK knocked off NCAA Tournament qualifier Missouri Western, swept Central Missouri and saw senior forward Austin Luger earn All-MIAA honors. UNK upped its’ win total in 2021-22 as transfer guard David Simental came in at 18.8 points per game. The team shot nearly 50% from the field and scored the same number of points (2,057) as its’ opponents. During the 2022-23 season, forward Darrian Nebeker reached 1,000 points despite being at UNK for just three seasons.  The former Bellevue West and Creighton star came to UNK after spending two years at as the graduate assistant coach at MIAA-member Pittsburg State. He worked under head coaches Kim Anderson and Kevin Muff, helping Pitt win 22 games and reach the 2018 league tournament. Young also coached two All-MIAA players. Young began his coaching career at NAIA Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska. During the 2015-16 season the Bulldogs went 18-12 and had four players named to the All-GPAC (Great Plains Athletic Conference) team. Holding a B.A. in Journalism from Creighton and a master’s from Pittsburg State, Young played professional basketball in Amsterdam, Switzerland and Mexico before entering the coaching ranks. At Creighton, Young was a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) selection who scored 1,342 points from 2008-12. His play helped the Bluejays win 97 games and reach the 2012 NCAA Tournament. During his days at Bell West, Young was named first-team all-state three times and made the all-state tournament squad three times. He finished his career with 1,726 points thanks to averaging 18.5 points over his final three seasons. Finally, the Thunderbirds were Class A state runners up in both 2007 and 2006.  In the summer of 2023, he married UNK Associate Head Athletic Trainer Whitney Ryan.  

Martynas Rubikas joined the High Point staff as a graduate assistant in the summer of 2023. Over the past two season with the Panthers, he helped High Point compile and overall record of 56-15 with a 27-5 Big South record. He helped the staff lead HPU to its first ever-NCAA tournament appearance as the No. 13 seed and matched up against No. 4 seed Purdue. He helped the staff turn around an under .500 program and guided the Panthers to back-to-back outright Big South Regular Season titles for the first time in program history. High Point became the first team in the Big South since 2011 (Coastal Carolina) to win back-to-back outright regular season titles. HPU finished with an overall record of 29-6 during the 2024-25 season, which tied for the most wins in Big South program history (Winthrop, 2006-07) and the most wins in HPU program history. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 26-5 record and a 14-2 league record. The 26 regular-season wins is the most in program history and tied the Big South regular-season wins record with Coastal Carolina's 2010-11 season (26-4). The Panthers also set the best win percentage in Division I era with an 88-percent win percentage in conference play and an 84-percentage win percentage in the regular season. Prior to HPU, Rubikas spent the five seasons as an assistant coach at the high school level. In two seasons (2021-2023) with Southern California Academy, Rubikas helped the Rams to a 41-14 record, serving as player development coach, video coordinator, and advance scout. From 2018-2021, Rubikas spent three seasons as an assistant coach at St. Louis Christian Academy. Rubikas was a student manager with the men’s basketball program at the University of Cincinnati from 2015-2018.

Colby Taylor joined the High Point men’s basketball staff in the summer of 2025 as the Video Coordinator after spending four seasons as a student manager with the program. A native of Henderson, N.C., Taylor was part of a historic stretch for the Panthers, serving as head manager for his final two seasons. Taylor graduated from High Point University in 2025 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. During his four seasons with the program, he played a key role behind the scenes in daily operations. As head manager during his final two seasons, Taylor helped High Point compile a 56–15 record, capture back-to-back Big South Regular Season championships, and win the Big South Tournament during the 2024–25 season, marking the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. As a student manager, Taylor organized and coordinated practices to ensure they ran smoothly and efficiently. He also assisted extensively with team film for both games and practices, contributing to preparation, scouting, and overall workflow for the coaching staff and players. In his current role as Video Coordinator, Taylor continues to support the Panthers through film organization, video breakdown, and practice and game operations as High Point builds on its recent success.

Delano Thomas joined the 2025-26 men's basketball staff in early June of 2025 after spending the past two seasons at Florida Memorial University.   During the past two seasons (2023-2025), Thomas was the Head Coach at Florida Memorial University where he compiled an overall record of 47-15 with a Sun Conference league record of 21-9. He helped guide the team to a 2024 Sun Conference Tournament title for an automatic bid to the National Tournament.   Thomas returned to his alma mater at Shawnee State in 2014 as an assistant coach for the Bears before being promoted to head coach in 2017. The NAIA National Coach of the Year and the Don Meyer Coach of the Year had one of the best runs in the history of NAIA men's basketball. Thomas constructed one of one of the greatest turnarounds in college basketball history during his tenure at Shawnee State. During the 2020-21 season, he led the Shawnee State men's basketball program from worst-to-first in their best season ever as a program, going 31-2 overall en route to its first-ever Men's Basketball NAIA National Championship. During the title run, the Bears started the season off 4-2 before winning 27 straight games, including the trifecta of a Mid-South Regular Season and Tournament Championship as well as an NAIA Tournament crown. The Bears generated one of the nation's longest winning streaks, totaling 31 games over consecutive seasons. That year, Thomas earned the Mid-South Coach of the Year, NAIA Coach of the Year Award, the Don Meyer Coach of the Year Award and the HoopDirt.com NAIA Coach of the Year Award. Under Thomas' tutelage, he coached three NAIA-All-Americans, eight all-conference selections, and guided nine of his players as they achieved professional basketball status overseas. He also has a player actively playing professionally in the NBA G-League. Thomas spent two seasons on the men's basketball team at Shawnee State from 2002-2004, ranking among the best in several categories in the program. A first-team NAIA All-American during the 2003-04 campaign and AMC Player of the Year recipient, Thomas ranks first in the program in blocked shots (148), first in rebounds per game average (11.5), 14th in scoring average per game (13.6) and 14th in assists per game (2.1). He was inducted into Shawnee State's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017. A Columbus, Ohio, native, Thomas propelled his successful college campaign into a professional career spanning nine years and six countries across South America, Asia and Europe. In 2008-09, he was part of a Norwegian squad that won the BLNO Championship in Norway's top professional basketball league. Thomas has also spent seasons in Portugal, Syria, Brazil, Uruguay and Germany. During his time overseas, Thomas also gained valuable coaching experience. In 2007, he was the head coach of Montevideo High School in Uruguay where he led the squad to a 22-10 record. The following year, he was the head coach of Ulriken Elite in Norway for the U21, U18, and U14 boys, as well as the U14 girls' squad. From 2012-14, Thomas was the head coach for the U15 boys and girls of Ulriken Ung., in Norway. During his time there, he led the girls' squad to a second place finish in the Bergen Region and a silver medal in the Hansa Cup. The boys' side finished as the bronze medalists.   Thomas resides in High Point with his wife and two kids.  

Tannor Kraus joined the High Point men's basketball staff in June of 2025 as announced by head coach Flynn Clayman. Kraus spent the past two seasons at Big South foe Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. While with the Runnin' Bulldogs, GWU posted a winning record during the 2023-24 season with a 17-16 overall record and an 11-5 record in the Big South to make it to the Big South Semifinals. Prior to being on staff at GWU, Kraus posted a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Northwest Nazarene University. At Northwest Nazarene University, he helped lead the Nighthawks to the 2023 GNAC Championship and advance to the Division II NCAA Tournament. Additionally, Kraus helped coach the Nighthawks to the No. 1-ranked defense in the GNAC during the 2021-2022 season and the top defense in the west region during the 2022-2023 season. Overall, Kraus has been a part of six winning seasons and part of two NCAA Tournament teams, including his time in Division I as a graduate assistant at Santa Clara University (2019-2021) and a student manger the University of Missouri (2017-2019). Kraus earned a master's degree in educational leadership at Santa Clara in 2021 and a bachelor's degree in park, recreation, and sport management at Missouri in 2019.