JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Matt Driscoll, a 1992 graduate of Slippery Rock University, was named Monday as the new head men's basketball coach at the University of North Florida.
Driscoll joins the UNF staff after serving six seasons as the top assistant coach under Scott Drew at Baylor University. Baylor lost to Penn State last week in the NIT finals at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Driscoll, who will be introduced during a 12:30 p.m. press conference Tuesday, is the fourth coach in the history of the UNF men's basketball program, which first started competing during the 1992-93 season.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Coach Driscoll to the UNF family,” UNF Director of Athletics Lee Moon said while announcing the hiring of Driscoll. “He is a tremendous leader and somebody who is respected by both his peers and players. A new era has begun for UNF Athletics with all of our programs becoming full-fledged NCAA Division I members next season, and a new era has begun for UNF basketball as well.”
“This was an opportunity for me to take a job at an institution that wants to see its basketball program rise to the greatest heights in both the Atlantic Sun Conference and in the Southeast Region,” Driscoll said. “I am excited at the opportunity. It has always been my dream to be a Division I head coach and through the last 12 years as an assistant coach at this level, I feel I have put myself in this position.”
Driscoll's basketball coaching experience began in 1988 when he served as the head coach of his high school alma mater at Pittsburgh's Northgate High School. He served in that role from 1988-90 before stops at Butler (Pa.) County Community College (1990-91) and Seneca Valley High School (1991-93), where he served as an assistant coach at both schools. From 1993-97 Driscoll served as the head coach at LaRoche College in Pittsburgh.
Driscoll's experience also includes a stint as a volunteer assistant coach at Slippery Rock.
Prior to joining the Baylor staff, Driscoll served seven weeks on Drew's staff at Valparaiso and then fellow his new boss to Waco, Texas.
Driscoll helped lead the Bears to the NCAA Tournament last season, the team's first appearance in the event since 1988. Baylor came up one game shy of making a second-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament this season as it fell to Missouri in the finals of the Big 12 Tournament. The Bears captured a win over top-seeded Kansas in that tournament before beating Georgetown, Virginia Tech, Auburn and San Diego State in the NIT.
Before the 2008-09 season, Driscoll was voted as one of the top-10 assistant coaches in the nation in a national survey of coaching professional conducted and published by Fox Sports.
Prior to his brief stop at Valparaiso, Driscoll served as an assistant under current Florida assistant coach Larry Shyatt from 1998-2003, as well as an assistant under Shyatt at Wyoming during the 1997-98 season. Driscoll helped guide both Clemson and Wyoming to berths in the NIT before helping rebuild the Baylor program to the point where it earned postseason tournament trips the last two years.
Driscoll served as the president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Assistant Coaches Board of Directors and has been a member of the organization since 1994.
Driscoll earned a bachelor of science degree in education from SRU in 1992. He and his wife, Carrie, have two sons, Chase and Paxton.
(This story includes material obtained from the University of North Florida website)
