Schneider adds to Kansas coaching staff
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas head women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider has added Larry Tidwell as associate head coach and Jhasmin Player as an assistant coach to his complete his staff on Monday.
Tidwell and Player fill vacancies left by Aqua Franklin and Jory Collins, who both became Division I head coaches last week.
Tidwell comes to Lawrence with over 25 years of coaching experience at Division I level, including 11 as a head coach.
“Nationally, Coach Tidwell is regarded as one of the most premier and connected recruiters in the country,” Schneider said. “His experience as a head coach at two division I universities combined with his experience as an assistant coach at three other Big 12 schools, will enable him to impact our program in all phases.”
Prior to joining the Jayhawks, Tidwell spent the 2018-19 season at Texas Tech and the five years previous as the head coach at UT-Rio Grande Valley. In his five years at UTRGV, Tidwell’s teams have broken 117 program records and tied 83 others.
He became the fourth head coach to be the winningest head coach at two NCAA Division I institutions, along with Texas A&M’s Gary Blair (Texas A&M and Arkansas), Air Force’s Chris Gobrecht (Washington and Yale) and retired Jane Albright (Northern Illinois and Wisconsin).
Before his stint at UTRGV, Tidwell spent six years as the head coach at Lamar. Tidwell led the Cardinals to a 26-8 record (13-3 Southland), the second-highest win total in program history, and the 2010 NCAA Tournament after winning the Southland Conference Co-Championship and the Southland Conference Tournament Championship.
He has shown off his recruiting prowess time and again, as two of his recruiting classes have been ranked in the top 10. He’s also had six in the top 20 and 12 in the top 50. In total, Tidwell has had 21 recruiting classes in the top 100 in the nation. He is credited with helping sign, develop and coach 40 student-athletes who have gone on to play professionally, including WNBA players Sandora Irvin (Phoenix/San Antonio/Chicago), Natasha Lacy (Detroit/Tulsa/Los Angeles), Adrianne Ross (San Antonio), Danielle Crockrum (San Antonio/Utah) and 2008 Olympian Tamara Abalde.
Prior to joining Lamar, Tidwell spent eight years as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at TCU in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs made the NCAA Tournament in each of his final seven seasons, including five trips to the second round. TCU also won the 2001 Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and the 2003 and 2005 Conference USA Tournament Championships.
While at Baylor, Tidwell helped to lay the seeds of a turnaround for the program by bringing in two top 25 recruiting classes as the Bears broke the .500 mark in 1996-97 for the first time since 1983-84, going 15-13. The Bears then went 20-11 in 1997-98.
Married to the former Teresa Ann Davis of Sanger, a retired special-needs teacher in the Crowley Independent School District, the couple has three sons, Marc, Marty and Michael. They have two daughter-in-law’s, Kristin and Michele, two granddaughters, Ryan and Skylar, and three grandsons, Matthew, William, and Waylon.
Tidwell also has eight “adopted sons,” Jeremy Pevehouse, Darryl Vrazel, Dave Mishler, Sean McShane, Dr. Chad Hammett, Thomas Bilde, Blake Ivy and Yannick Denson.
Player joins the Jayhawks after spending the 2018-19 season with Loyola Marymount in California. During her year at LMU, Player helped the Lions return to postseason play for the first time since 2001 after LMU was selected for the 2019 WNIT.
“Jhasmin’s collegiate and professional playing careers speak for themselves,” said Schneider. “In coaching, she has quickly established herself as one of the top international recruiters in our business. Her passion, humility, love for the game, and desire to mentor young women were apparent the first time I met her.”
Before coming to LMU, Player spent two seasons at Maine where she held numerous positions including, director of operations, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. In 2018, Player led the Maine Black Bears to the America East regular season title and the America East Tournament Championship. With a 23-9 record and 15 seed, the Black Bears made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2004.
Prior to her second stint at Maine, Player spent five seasons in Europe playing professional basketball, giving her an advantage when recruiting internationally. Player played in Portugal, Spain and Poland. Player rewrote European record books in 2014, after averaging 39.9 points per game. Player also spent one season with the WNBA Franchise, Atlanta Dream.
A native of Bay City, Texas, Player graduated from Baylor in 2009. She was a four-year member of the Lady Bears’ basketball team, earning captain honors her junior and senior seasons. At Baylor, Player guided the team to four NCAA tournament appearances and a 2009 Big 12 Tournament Championship. Player was named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team in 2009 and also earned Big 12 All-Defensive Team and Second-Team All-Conference honors during her collegiate career.
In addition to the hiring of Tidwell and Player, Schneider announced the promotion of assistant coach Damitria Buchanan to recruiting coordinator. Buchanan coordinated KU’s last recruiting class that is currently ranked No. 31 nationally and No. 3 in the Big 12 by Dan Olsons Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.
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