Todd Buchanan is back in the fold at UH, returning to lead the women’s basketball program that he helped coach from 2000-05. | Jairo Razo/The Daily Cougar
In keeping with his recent trend of moving quickly to fill vacant coaching positions, UH athletics director Mack Rhoades announced the hiring of Todd Buchanan as the women’s basketball head coach.
Rhoades didn’t have to travel far to recruit Buchanan, who has served as the head coach of the Houston Baptist program for the last five seasons. Before that, Buchanan was a top assistant under Joe Curl, whom he is replacing. Curl stepped down on March 23 after 12 seasons at the helm.
“When we began the search, it was similar to our men’s search. We wanted to hire someone with high, great character. Someone we knew really cared about our student-athletes as much off the court as on the court,” Rhoades said at Wednesday’s press conference. “I have three daughters, and the last question I asked myself is who would I want my daughters to play for? Who would I want them to be mentored and coached by?
“There was one answer: coach Todd Buchanan.
“That’s important, because we’re in the business of mentoring and educating young people, and we can never lose sight of that. Yes, winning is important. There’s no question in my mind that we have someone who can do that and do it the right way.”
During his tenure at HBU, Buchanan compiled an 80-68 record and led the Huskies to two berths in the NAIA National Tournament. He also oversaw HBU’s transition to Division I of the NCAA. While serving as Curl’s assistant, Buchanan helped lead the Cougars to four postseason appearances and was integral in recruiting standout players and future WNBA top-10 draft selections Chandi Jones and Sancho Lyttle.
While Buchanan is sure to put his own stamp on the coaching staff, Rhoades indicated that some of the current assistants would be retained.
“He will be keeping two of the full time assistants, coaches Wade Scott and Tari Cummings, and also Tiffanie Gupton, the director of basketball operations. I feel they are all fantastic, and I have always given my new coaches the economy to do what they need to do when it comes hiring a new staff, but he maintained the importance of retaining these two coaches.”
