Sept. 19, 2006
Sept. 18, 2006
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Gary Stewart, head men's basketball coach at the University of California Davis, has been elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
Stewart fills a position on the board vacated when Barry Collier resigned as basketball coach at the University of Nebraska to become the director of athletics at Butler University.
Beginning his fourth season as head coach at UC Davis, Stewart has been an active member of the NABC, serving on the board of directors for the Assistant Coaches Committee and as a coordinator and assistant coach for the annual NABC All-Star game for the past four seasons. Stewart also serves as a member of the NABC Ethics Committee.
A 1984 graduate of the University of La Verne, he was a three-year captain and four-year all-conference performer in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). He captured the conference's Ted Ducey Award, given to the senior who best exemplifies outstanding achievement in academics, athletics, leadership and sportsmanship.
He began his coaching career as an assistant at Long Beach State. Stewart served as the head coach at La Verne for eight years and ranks second all-time in career wins at his alma mater with 116. He went on to the head coaching position at Cal State Hayward for two seasons, guiding his team to the NCAC title and earned Co-Coach of the Year honors.
Stewart was also an assistant for one season at UC Santa Barbara and was an assistant for three seasons at Washington State University. He moved on to UCLA in 2002-03 as director of basketball services before taking over at UC Davis.
In his first season, he guided the Aggies to a 18-9 record overall and a 15-7 mark in the tough Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association.
With UC Davis making a transition from NCAA Division II to Division I, Stewart's team won 11 games in 2005-06, including three overtime victories, and won five games in the Big West Conference.
Throughout his career, Stewart has been active in the basketball community and community at-large. He was the recipient of the UC Davis Community Service Award in 2005 and 2006 and serves on the boards of directors of the City of Hope Cancer Center (Duarte, Calif.), the East Oakland Youth Foundation, the United Way and the ALS Foundation. Stewart also developed the Free Throws for Heroes program for 9/11 relief, which was adopted by the NABC. He and the Aggies team members are active volunteers with the Special Olympics and worked to raise relief funds for the American Red Cross in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Among the collegiate head coaches on the NABC Board of Directors are Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Tubby Smith (Kentucky), Tim Izzo (Michigan State), Bill Self (Kansas), Paul Hewitt (Georgia Tech) and Bo Ryan (Wisconsin).
(Press release courtesy NABC).
