Bobby Lutz (basketball)

Bobby Lutz
Lutz in Kuwait, 2007
Biographical details
Born (1958-04-04) April 4, 1958
Hickory, North Carolina, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1982–1983Parkwood HS (NC)
1983–1984Bunker Hill HS (NC)
1984–1986Clemson (assistant)
1986–1995Pfeiffer
1995–1998Charlotte (assistant)
1998–2010Charlotte
2010–2011Iowa State (assistant)
2011–2012NC State (assistant)
2012–2016NC State (associate HC)
2016–2017Windy City Bulls (assistant)
2019–2021Nebraska (special assistant)
Head coaching record
Overall398–247 (.617) (college)
Tournaments2–5 (NCAA Division I)
13–6 (NAIA)
1–3 (NIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Awards
  • 3x Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year (1989, 1992, 1995)

Bobby Lutz (born April 4, 1958) is an American basketball coach. He last served as Associate AD for the University of Mississippi Rebels men's basketball team.[1] From 2016 to 2017, he was an assistant coach of the Windy City Bulls of the NBA Development League. He previously was an associate head coach at North Carolina State University Wolfpack men's basketball team[2] after being an assistant coach there.[3] Lutz was also head coach of the Charlotte 49ers basketball team from 1998 to 2010.

Early career

Lutz graduated from Bandys High School in Catawba, North Carolina in 1976 and from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1980 with a B.A. in Psychology and Economics. He taught social studies and coached basketball at several high schools in North Carolina. In 1984, he became a graduate assistant coach for the men's basketball team at Clemson University. Before the 1986–87 season, he was named head coach at Pfeiffer College in Misenheimer, North Carolina. He led the Falcons to a 181–91 record in his nine years as their coach, including one berth in the NAIA championship game.

Charlotte

In 1995, Lutz was named the head coach at Gardner–Webb University but resigned two weeks after accepting the job to become an assistant coach at his alma mater under head coach Jeff Mullins. He served as an assistant under Mullins (1995–96) and his successor, Melvin Watkins (1996–98). When Watkins accepted the head coaching job at Texas A&M University, Lutz was promoted and became the eighth head coach of the Charlotte 49ers on April 9, 1998.

The 49ers enjoyed consistent success during Lutz's tenure, reaching the NCAA tournament five times (1999, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005), plus three appearances in the NIT (2000, 2006 and 2008). In 2005, Lutz was a finalist for the Jim Phelan Award.

On February 23, 2008, Charlotte won at home over Saint Louis 81–64, giving Lutz 183 wins at Charlotte and the all-time mark for wins by a 49ers coach, passing Mullins' 182 wins accumulated between 1985 and 1996.

Lutz's 49ers were expected to contend for their first NCAA Tournament berth as an Atlantic 10 member in 2009–10. With eight games to go in the season, they had a record of 18-5 and seemed well on their way to a bid. However, they went 1-7 the rest of the way. They bottomed out in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament against UMass when they came out of a timeout with six men on the court. The resulting technical foul derailed a last-ditch rally, and they lost the game. After not even receiving an NIT bid, Lutz was fired on March 15, 2010.[4] He compiled a 218–158 record at UNC Charlotte,[5][6] and is the school's winningest men's basketball coach.[7] He then spent a season as an assistant coach with the Nebraska Cornhuskers under head coach Fred Hoiberg.[6]

D-League

On September 30, 2016, Lutz was appointed an assistant coach of the Windy City Bulls, a new NBA Development League franchise, under head coach Nate Loenser.[8] Lutz helped Coach this team to a 23–27 record, which was good for 7th in the Eastern Conference, but only the top four teams in each conference get into the playoffs.[9] After the 2016–17 season, Windy City Bulls head coach Nate Loenser switched jobs with Chicago Bulls assistant coach Charlie Henry and Lutz was not a part of Henry's 2017-18 staff.[10]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Pfeiffer Falcons (Conference Carolinas) (1986–1995)
1986–87 Pfeiffer 7–19 4–12
1987–88 Pfeiffer 7–17 4–12
1988–89 Pfeiffer 13–13 10–6
1989–90 Pfeiffer 22–11 9–3 1st NAIA Elite Eight
1990–91 Pfeiffer 29–4 10–2 T–1st NAIA Final Four
1991–92 Pfeiffer 30–5 14–0 1st NAIA Division I Final Four
1992–93 Pfeiffer 23–6 13–1 1st NAIA Division I First Round
1993–94 Pfeiffer 24–6 11–3 1st NAIA Division I Sweet 16
1994–95 Pfeiffer 25–8 11–3 T–1st NAIA Division I Runner-up
Pfeiffer: 180–89 (.669) 86–42 (.672)
Charlotte 49ers (Conference USA) (1998–2005)
1998–99 Charlotte 23–11 10–6 T–3rd (American) NCAA Division I Second Round
1999–00 Charlotte 17–16 7–9 T–5th (American) NIT First Round
2000–01 Charlotte 22–11 10–6 2nd (American) NCAA Division I Second Round
2001–02 Charlotte 18–12 11–5 3rd (American) NCAA Division I First Round
2002–03 Charlotte 13–16 8–8 T–5th (American)
2003–04 Charlotte 21–9 12–4 T–1st NCAA Division I First Round
2004–05 Charlotte 21–8 12–4 T–2nd NCAA Division I First Round
Charlotte 49ers (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2005–2010)
2005–06 Charlotte 19–13 11–5 2nd NIT First Round
2006–07 Charlotte 14–16 7–9 9th
2007–08 Charlotte 20–14 9–7 T–4th NIT First Round
2008–09 Charlotte 11–20 5–11 12th
2009–10 Charlotte 19–12 9–7 T–5th
Charlotte: 218–158 (.580) 111–81 (.578)
Total: 398–247 (.617)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Personal

Lutz has a wife and two daughters.

References

  1. ^ "Bobby Lutz - Associate AD - Men's Basketball - Staff Directory".
  2. ^ North Carolina State Wolfpack promote Bobby Lutz to associate head coach - ESPN
  3. ^ Giglio, JP. "N.C. State hires Lutz". charlotteobserver.com. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  4. ^ Charlotte 49ers fire Bobby Lutz as coach - ESPN
  5. ^ Charlotte endorses Lutz with five-year extension - Men's College Basketball - ESPN
  6. ^ a b Bobby Lutz hire gives Iowa State experience on bench - ESPN
  7. ^ Hobbs, Chris (March 15, 2010). "49ers release Catawba County native from contract". The Hickory Record.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  8. ^ "Windy City Bulls Finalize Coaching & Basketball Operations Staff For Inaugural Season". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. September 30, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  9. ^ "RealGM - G League Standings".
  10. ^ "Charlie Henry ready for new role with Windy City Bulls". October 8, 2017.