New assistant coach hired for men’s basketball

Jun 17 2009 - 2:59pm | Jessie Spielvogel

The Texas State men’s basketball team has a new addition to the athletic department.

Rob Flaska is one of the new assistant basketball coaches hoping to lead the team to victory for the 2009 to 2010 season with head coach Doug Davalos.

Flaska has extensive history with coaching and playing basketball. He played at Michigan Tech and was assistant coach at Texas Southern, three years as head coach at Centenary, three years as assistant coach at Arkansas and four seasons at Texas Christian. Additionaly, he was the head coach at Florida Community College and assistant coach at Trinity Valley Community College. His FCC team had a 64-31 record during three seasons.

“I was at Texas Southern for not even a year. It was not the place for me. Then I was contacted by the head coach (of Texas State) about an opening and he asked if I was interested,” Flaska said. “I got a chance to look at the facilities and the campus and thought it would be a neat place to be.”

Flaska said this job was a great opportunity because he and Davalos already have a good relationship.

Davalos agrees.

“Rob is a tremendous hire for Texas State men’s basketball,” Davalos said. “He has a wealth of experience as a collegiate head coach and assistant coach. I got to know him while he was the head coach at Centenary and the thing that stood out to me was his passion for coaching and his competitiveness.”

Davalos is confident he made the right choice in hiring Flaska as his assistant.

“He has been a high level assistant coach and a NCAA Division I head coach,” Davalos said. “He knows what a head coach needs and what an assistant should do. That makes him ideal from that standpoint as my right-hand man.”

Flaska is looking forward to meeting the players and seeing the new recruits’ potential.

“One of the recruits is from Texas Southern, so I already know him,” Flaska said. “I know a little about some of the other players, but until I get to know all the players, there is always concern of what is to come.”

Flaska’s main objective is to support Davalos.

“I like his philosophy because it is similar to mine. I am just going to try to fit in where I can help the program most,” Flaska said. “I am a pretty experienced guy. I’ve seen a lot of things and been through a lot of things, so hopefully my wisdom will help out in any area it’s needed.”

Flaska will not be able to work with the players during the summer because NCAA regulations do not permit summer practices.

“As college coaches, all we can be is mentors and advisers for the athletes over the summer,” Flaska said. “Some coaches would be overzealous with practice schedules if this rule was not in place.”

Players are allowed to work with strength coaches and may practice basketball with anyone except Texas State coaches during the summer months.

“They need to spend a lot of time physically developing themselves in the weight room over the summer and possibly take classes to stay on track or to get ahead,” Flaska said.

Davalos said he intends to hire one more assistant coach for the upcoming season.

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