University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley Men's Basketball

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) head men’s basketball coach Brandon Chambers announced on April 27 the hiring of Shawn Forrest, who has over 25 years collegiate coaching experience, including two seasons at McNeese, as associate head coach.    Forrest spent the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons at McNeese where he helped the Cowboys to a 58-11 record, the most wins in a two-year span in program history, a 36-2 Southland Conference (SLC) record, two SLC regular and tournament championships, and the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament win against No. 5 Clemson in 2025.    In his two seasons at McNeese, Forrest helped guide Shahada Wells and Javohn Garcia to back-to-back SLC Players of the Year and saw Christian Shumate earn back-to-back SLC Defensive Player of the Year honors.     Prior to his time at McNeese, Forrest spent two seasons (2021-23) at Memphis as the assistant to the head coach under Penny Hardaway. Throughout his tenure at Memphis, Forrest was part of the staff that helped the Tigers to 48 wins, including 26 at home and 26 conference wins, an American Conference Tournament Championship, and two trips to the NCAA Tournament.    Before arriving at Memphis, Forrest spent the 2020-21 season as an assistant coach at Georgia Southern helping the Eagles to 13 wins while ranking fourth in the Sun Belt in scoring defense, first in turnovers force, and third in steals.    Before his time at Georgia Southern, Forrest spent three seasons (2016-19) at SMU, where he helped the Mustangs to a 30-5 record in 2016-17, including an 18-0 record at home, while winning the American regular-season and tournament titles and advancing to the NCAA Tournament.    Throughout his tenure at SMU, Forrest was instrumental in the development of NBA draft picks Semi Ojeleye, Sterling Brown, and Shake Milton.   Prior to joining SMU, Forrest spent three seasons at Western Kentucky (2013-16) helping the Hilltoppers to consecutive 20-win seasons and guided George Fant and T.J. Price finish near the top of several program categories.    Before his time at Western Kentucky, Forrest spent the 2012-13 season at Louisiana-Lafayette where he helped the Ragin’ Cajuns to the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament while guiding Elfrid Payton, who was selected 10th in the 2014 NBA Draft, to First Team All-Conference honors.   Forrest spent four seasons (2008-12) as an assistant coach at North Texas helping the Mean Grean to four-straight 20-plus win seasons while helping the program win the 2010 Sun Belt Tournament earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Forrest also had a hand in the development of NBA Draft Selection Tony Mitchell.    Before his time at North Texas, Forrest spent six season (2002-08) at Arkansas State where he helped the program to multiple top-100 recruiting classes. Forrest spent the 2001-02 season at Florida A&M where he helped the Rattlers to a fourth-place finish in the MEAC, which was the highest finish for the program in 10 years.    Forrest got his coaching career started as a graduate assistant at Troy for three seasons (1998-01) where he worked with the guards and assisted in recruiting, academics and travel. Forrest helped the Trojans to two regular-season Atlantic Sun championships, one tournament title, one NCAA Tournament appearance, and one NIT appearance.    Forrest graduated from Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 1998 where he finished his career as the all-tie leading scorer.    Forrest and his wife, Renea, have three daughters, Abri, Aaliyah, and Alyssa.   

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) head men’s basketball coach Brandon Chambers announced on April 14 the hiring of Joseph Anderson, who spent last season as the Director of Player Development at NC State, as an assistant coach.    Anderson was part of the staff at NC State that made the NCAA Tournament after posting a 20-win season, including a pair of wins over No. 18 Clemson and No. 16 North Carolina. Anderson helped Quadir Copeland improve from 9.2 to 13.9 points per game, 15.4% to 39% from three-point range, and 4.5 to 6.5 assists per game en route to All-ACC Third Team honors.   Anderson played a huge role in the development of Paul McNeil Jr. that saw him jump from 4.2 to 13.8 points per game and improve from 35.6% to 42% from three-point range while setting a career-high with 47 points.     Prior to his time at NC State, Anderson spent the 2024-25 season at McNeese as a graduate assistant where he helped the Cowboys to a 28-7 record and a 19-1 record in Southland Conference play helping them advance to the NCAA Tournament where they recorded the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win against No. 5 Clemson.    Under Anderson’s guidance, Copeland earned All-SLC Second Team honors and All-Tournament Team recognition while having a heavy hand in player development for the Cowboys.     Before his stint at McNeese, Anderson was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State under Mike Boynton Jr. where he helped the Cowboys to a 20-win season earning a trip to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) while guiding Javon Smalls to All-Big 12 Honorable Mention recognition and helped Eric Dailey Jr. post a strong freshman season with 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.    Anderson played collegiately at Northern Arizona (2016-18), Nevada (2018-19), and Albany (2019-21).   Anderson earned a double-major from Albany in 2021 in communications and sociology.   

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) head men’s basketball coach Brandon Chambers announced on Tuesday the hiring of Mitch Marquis, who spent the last 12 seasons on the coaching staff at Tyler Junior College, as an assistant coach.    Throughout his tenure, Marquis helped guide the program to nearly 250 wins while developing nearly 40 student-athletes to play at the Division I level. Marquis helped Tyler Junior College to two Region XIV Conference Tournament Championships and two NJCAA National Tournament appearances in 2015 and 2018, a regular season Region XIV championship in 2020, and a Region XIV North Zone regular season championship in 2017.   Last season, Marquis stepped in as the interim head coach and was named the Region XIV Coach of the Year while leading Tyler Junior College to a 21-11 record and an appearance to the semifinals of the Region XIV Tournament.    Under his tutelage, Tyler Junior College led the conference in scoring at 79.7 points per game and were at the top of the league in field goal percentage with a 47.5% clip. Tyler Junior College also finished first in offensive efficiency in the conference and ranked ninth nationally while finishing in the top-20 in three-point percentage.    Marquis guided three earned to All-Region honors in Chris Uwayo Jr. and Caden Bell earning First Team honors while Josiah Hill earned Honorable Mention, all of which will be joining UTRGV for the 2026-27 season.    Throughout his time at Tyler Junior College, Marquis gained experience in duties off the court as he managed budgets and day-to-day operations, academics and logistics, recruiting, scouting, offensive and defensive schemes, and game plans.   Marquis played collegiately at Tyler Junior College for two seasons and then became their volunteer coach before being added as an assistant.   Marquis graduated from Southern New Hampshire University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in general studies.  

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) head men’s basketball coach Brandon Chambers announced on Wednesday the hiring of Joey Rodriguez, who spent the last eight seasons as an assistant coach at Florida International University (FIU), as an assistant coach.    Rodriguez helped the Panthers to 113 wins throughout his tenure helping Jeremy Ballard become the winningest coach at FIU while protecting home court with 80 wins at the Ocean Bank Center.    Last season, Rodriguez guided Florida International to 15 wins, including 12 at home and under his tutelage, helped Corey Stephenson to Conference USA (CUSA) All-Second Team honors and Eric Dibami to All-Freshman and All-Defensive Team honors.     In 2024-25, Rodriguez guided Jayden Brewer All-CUSA Honorable Mention honors and Vianney Salatchoum CUSA All-Defensive Team honors.    Rodriguez helped the Panthers first CUSA Tournament win since 2018 in 2023-24 while helping Arturo Dean to All-CUSA Third Team and All-Defensive Team honors and Javaunte Hawkins to All-CUSA Honorable Mention honors.    In 2022-23, Rodriguez saw the Panthers record 14 wins, including eight in CUSA play, which was a three-win increase for the second-straight season. He also guided Denver Jones to the program’s first-ever All-CUSA First Team selection and Dean to CUSA Freshman of the Year of the Year and All-Defensive Team honors. Dean alongside Dashon Gittens earned CUSA All-Freshman Team honors.   Rodriguez helped the Panthers to 15 wins in 2021-22, including 11 of them at home while guiding Jones to 12.5 points per game in his first season with the program.    In 2020-21, Rodriguez saw the Panthers set the program record with 34 assists and 20 three-pointers made in a win over Carver.    In his second season with the program, Rodriguez helped FIU earn their highest ever seeding for the CUSA Tournament where they defeated Rice for the program’s second-ever win the CUSA Tournament. Rodriguez also saw the program lead the nation in blocked shots (210) while also ranking 11th in three-point defense (28.8%) and total steals (280).   Rodriguez coached Osasumwen Osaghae to the program’s first-ever CUSA Defensive Player of the Year honor, All-Defensive Team, and All-Conference Second Team honors and Devon Andrews to All-CUSA Second Team honors.   In his first season, Rodriguez helped guide FIU to a 20-win season, which was the program third time recording 20 or more wins in a season, en route to earning a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, the program’s second postseason appearance, where they picked up the program’s first-ever postseason victory.    Under Rodriguez’s guidance, the Panthers set single-season program records in points (2,798), rebounds (1,218), assists (491), and steals (359) while leading the nation in steals per game (10.6), turnover margin (5.6), and turnovers forced (19.6) and finishing second in total steals.     Prior to his time at FIU, Rodriguez spent the 2017-18 season at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) as the director of player development.    Prior to joining VCU, Rodriguez spent the 2016-17 season at Rice as the video coordinator where he helped the owls to an 11-win improvement and the program’s first-ever 20-win season in more than a decade.    Rodriguez spent a couple of seasons in the high school ranks where he was the head coach at Lake Howell, his high school alma mater, in 2015-16 and was an assistant coach at Benedictine in 2013-14.    Rodriguez started his coaching career at the University of Central Florida in 2012-13 as an assistant video coordinator, helping the Knights to a 20-win season.    Rodriguez played collegiately at VCU from 2007-11 helping lead the program to the Final Four in 2011 after starting the tournament in the NCAA First Four. He averaged 10.4 points and 3.2 rebounds in 2011, including 9.0 points and 7.7 assists in the Rams’ five NCAA Tournament wins.    Rodriguez helped VCU to four postseason berths throughout his career, including a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in 2009 and 2011 and wrapped up his career ranking third in program history in both assists (580) and steals (287), and ranked 21st in points (1,362).    After his time at VCU, Rodriguez spent time playing professionally in Puerto Rico and Turkey.   Rodriguez graduated from VCU in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.   

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) head men’s basketball coach Brandon Chambers announced on April 22 the hiring of John Jones, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Texas Southern University, as director of basketball operations.    Jones helped the Tigers to 10 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) wins last season, marking the third-straight year of more than 10 conference wins. Throughout his tenure, Jones helped Texas Southern to 25 home wins making the H&PE Arena a tough place to play.     In 2024-25, Jones helped guide the Tigers to a top four finish in the SWAC after a 12-win conference season. He guided Kavion McClain to All-SWAC Second Team honors after he averaged 13.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 4.4 assists.    In his first season with the Tigers, Jones was part of the staff that helped head coach Johnny Jones, reach his 100thcareer win at Texas Southern and 400th career win. Jones guided the Tigers to 12 SWAC wins as they reached the SWAC Tournament finals for the 19th time in program history and seventh in a row en route to a CollegeInsider.com Tournament appearance.    Jones spent the 2022-23 season as Texas Southern’s graduate assistant where he assisted the staff with practice, game preparation in addition to basketball operations before being promoted to assistant coach.     Jones was a four-year letterwinner at Texas Southern (2018-22) where he helped the Tigers to SWAC Tournament Championships in 2021 and 2022 while also helping the program to a memorable run in the 2018 CollegeInsider.com Tournament en route to a program record 24 wins.   Throughout his career, Jones started 54 games and ranks as one of the top three-point shooters in program history with a total of 173 three-pointers made and ranks second in wins in program history as a player.   Jones also spent a season at Nevada (2017-18) where he walked on and helped the Wolf Pack to a run to the Sweet 16.   Jones graduated from Texas Southern in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in sports management with a minor in radio, television, and film.