Photo Courtesy/UTRGV Athletics
Karina Rodriguez | THE RIDER
UTRGV Athletics has appointed Matt Figger as the new men’s head basketball coach.
Figger was the head coach at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee for the last four seasons and was the 2017-18 Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year, according to a March 29 Athletics news release.
His appointment came after Head Coach Lew Hill died on Feb. 7. Hill coached at UTRGV for five seasons.
In an introductory news conference last Tuesday, Figger said he hopes to honor Hill during his first season at UTRGV.
“This is my plan: We are going to honor Coach Hill and next season [in] every game we play, and every time we lace up our shoes and take the court,” Figger said during the news conference. “[We are] going to honor that man, and he will be there with us. [He will be there] in the locker room, on this court, on the bench and hopefully, when the game gets hard, [he will be] giving me some suggestions to help us win a game. This season is going to be dedicated to Coach Lew Hill.”
He said he believes the community can also help the team achieve success.
“Now it is time to get to work,” Figger said. “I love the catchphrase ‘Rally the Valley.’ You know, we are going to Rally the Valley. We are going to put people in this building and give them an exciting style of play. We are going to make this fun, and they’re going to be cheering for your guys.
“We are going to make this the hardest place in this conference to play at. Every team that comes here to play is going to know they’ve been challenged because this place is going to be full of people.”
Redshirt junior guard Ricky “Doc” Nelson said he hopes Figger will continue to help their team be successful.
“I would like him to, you know, continue to help us win,” Nelson said. “That’s one thing that Coach Hill was big on and, you know, he really didn’t care about anything else but winning. He did everything in his power to try to help us win, along with the other guys and the coaching staff.”
The junior guard said the team will face challenges adapting to a new coach.
“Some of the challenges that I think we’ll face will just be, you know, getting used to a new voice,” Nelson said. “You hang around somebody for so long, and you get used to what they want and what they like, and it kind of becomes second nature to you. So, I think just getting used to his voice and the things he likes will take some time to get used to.”
Redshirt junior forward Marek Nelson said he hopes that the team will be open to the changes happening.
“I think it’s going to be different for everybody,” Marek Nelson said. “I mean, everyone has different personalities and different relationships.
“So, I think it’s important to [not] give up on the relationship before we even have the chance to begin. Because, what I would say … [is] meet everybody and give it time to build. It’s hard to build [and], especially after last year, it is hard to get back and refocus and gear up again. But I think being patient and allowing relationships to build will be very helpful and very effective to the team and to players individually.”
