In his second go-around at the school where he began his Division I coaching career in 1987, head coach Ronnie Arrow has not skipped a beat. In his fifth season since his return to South Alabama in 2007, Arrow has already posted two 20-win campaigns and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Now entering his 14th overall season at USA, Arrow holds a 206-156 record with three NCAA Tournament appearances and three Sun Belt Conference crowns. He first guided the Jaguars from 1987-94, posting a 114-93 (55.1%) record in the eight-year stint.
An accomplished coach at both the Division I and junior college level for 30 years, Arrow has accumulated a combined 642-290 mark at South Alabama, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and San Jacinto Junior College. Included in that total are three junior college national championships and four trips to the NCAA Tournament.
A three-time Sun Belt Coach of the Year, Arrow ranks second all-time among Sun Belt coaches in league wins and has just three losing seasons in league play in his long career.
After leading Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2007, Arrow returned to South Alabama and promptly guided the Jaguars to a school-record 26 victories, the Sun Belt Conference East Division title and a berth in the NCAA postseason. For his efforts, he was selected the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
Arrow wasn’t the only individual recognized in the program, though, as he helped Demetric Bennett (First Team), Daon Merritt (Second Team), Brandon Davis and Domonic Tilford (both Third Team) earn All-Sun Belt accolades after the Jags finished 16-2 in league action. In addition, he and Bennett were honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) — Arrow was the organization’s District 6 Coach of the Year while Bennett was a First Team All-District choice.
Arrow and the Jaguars followed that up with a 20-13 campaign in 2008-09 and advanced to the SBC Tournament championship game. The team finished strong, winning eight of its last 10 and knocking off the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds before falling to top-seeded Western Kentucky.
Three players earned all-Sun Belt honors: Brandon Davis, DeAndré Coleman and Domonic Tilford, and the Jaguars led the conference in four categories.
The 2009-10 season was a monumental one as Arrow eclipsed three major career milestones. He became the school’s all time wins leader on Jan. 16, surpassing Cliff Ellis’s record of 171 victories. Arrow’s 300th win as a Division I coach came in grand style Nov. 29 at Arkansas, the first of two triumphs against SEC opponents, and his 600th win at all college levels was an 83-67 home victory over Alcorn State.
He passed another milestone the next season by becoming the third coach in league history to record 100 conference wins. Already South Alabama’s career leader in SBC wins with 110, Arrow needs one league victory to become the Sun Belt’s all-time leader.
A major bright spot for the 2010-11 season was the development of Augustine Rubit, who enjoyed one of the best freshman campaigns in school history. Rubit became South Alabama’s second-ever Sun Belt Freshman of the Year after ranking sixth in Division I and first among freshmen in rebounding (11.0). Rubit was named to two freshman All-America teams in addition to being the first USA frosh to earn all-Sun Belt honors.
Arrow returned the Jaguars to their winning ways in the 2011-12 season, guiding the team to a 17-12 mark and a second-place finish in the Sun Belt East Division. Rubit became the program’s first player to earn First Team All-Sun Belt honors since 2008 and helped the Jaguars rank eighth in the nation in rebounding margin.
He passed yet another milestone on Jan. 29, 2012 when he picked up his 200th win at South Alabama with a 68-66 victory over Troy.
Prior to his return to USA, Arrow compiled a 134-91 (59.6%) mark at TAMU-CC including three straight 20-win seasons in his last three years with the program. In addition to guiding the Islanders to the NCAA Tournament in 2007, he led them to a school-record 26-7 finish and the Southland Conference title their first year in the league, earning coach-of-the-year honors for his work.
Long before the Islanders threatened No. 2 seed Wisconsin in the national tournament, they made a name for themselves defeating the likes of South Florida out of the Big East Conference and Texas Christian of the Mountain West for the second straight season in 2005-06. Despite a one-point loss to Big 12 Conference member Missouri on its home court, Arrow brought the Islanders from the ground up to become a contender with schools from the power conferences.
In 2004, Arrow put TAMU-CC on the national map as it defeated Florida State 70-67 in Tallahassee and followed with an upset win over Old Dominion, handing the Monarchs one of their five losses that season. In addition to those victories, Arrow’s Islanders defeated Texas Tech, Texas A&M and 2004 NCAA Tournament qualifier Murray State.
Arrow took over the Islanders in 1998 when the school moved to Division I, finishing with six seasons with a .500 or better record while guiding the school to a regular-season and tournament championship in their only season in the Southland Conference.
Before moving to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Arrow knew all about rising from the ashes. At the end of the 1990-91 season at USA, he was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year for the second time after engineering the most dramatic turnaround in league history. That year, his Jaguars became the first SBC squad ever to leap from last to first place in a single season. Picked to finish fifth in the conference, South Alabama went on to capture the league crown with an 11-3 mark.
The Jags, who finished the season with a 22-9 record, swept through the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament before falling to Utah in a first-round tilt.
In 1987, Arrow took over at South Alabama for Mike Hanks as the school’s fifth head coach. During his time in Mobile, he led the Jags to two NCAA Tournaments, including a thrilling 86-84 win over Alabama in the first round of the 1989 NCAA Tournament — still the school’s only victory in the event — in just his second season at the helm. South Alabama lost to eventual national champion Michigan in the second round and finished the season with a 23-9 record. Arrow was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year after winning conference regular-season and tournament titles.
Over the years, Arrow has developed a reputation in the collegiate basketball circles for up-tempo, high-scoring teams. His squads led the SBC in scoring four of his first seven seasons at USA. His 1988-89 squad set a school and league record with a 91 points-per-game average, and five of his seven teams tallied at least 80 points per outing.
Prior to South Alabama, Arrow served as head coach at San Jacinto Junior College from 1977-87. He tallied an impressive 302-43 (87.5%) record and guided the Ravens to 10 TJCAC titles, as well as NJCAA championships in 1983, ’84 and ’86. He was tabbed the NJCAA Region XIV Coach of the Year in 1983, ’84, ’86, ’87, and the National Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1986. His 1985-86 squad led the nation in scoring, averaging 101 points per game.
In junior college, Arrow coached several players who went on to enjoy careers in the National Basketball Association: Walter Berry, Alton Lister, Ladell Eackles and Larry Spriggs. Additionally, he led the 1989 United States Junior World Cup Team to the gold medal in Uruguay with future NBA stars Grant Hill, Calbert Cheaney and Allan Houston.
Arrow was a two-year all-Lone Star Conference honoree and a three-year letterman at Southwest Texas State. After graduating from STS (now Texas State) with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 1969, he began his coaching career by serving as a graduate assistant at Sam Houston State.
He moved on to coach Pasadena High School during the 1972-73 season, capturing District 23-4A Coach-of-the-Year honors.
Arrow and his wife, Nelda, have one adult daughter, Ailey, and one granddaughter, Ansley, born May 20, 2010.
