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UT Arlington coach Scott Cross spent the first five years of his career as a head coach by generating a long list of school records, firsts and accomplishments. Now he will lead his alma mater into a new era, starting this season when the Mavericks move into the brand new, state-of-the-art College Park Center. UTA will make another major move on July 1, 2012 when the program moves from the Southland Conference into the Western Athletic Conference. During his first five seasons, Cross has guided the Mavericks to the school's only appearance in the NCAA Tournament, won a conference tournament, coached a player who earned All-American honors and recorded 50 wins faster than any other coach in school history. Cross led his team to the 2008 NCAA Tournament marking the first time in school history the Mavericks made an appearance in the annual "Big Dance". That appearance came just a week after his team entered the Southland Conference tournament as the seventh seed but came away with the conference title after defeating Northwestern State in the finals to punch their ticket. The list of accomplishments continued 2010 as his team featured Southland Conference Player of the Year Marquez Haynes, who became just the second player in school history to be honored with that award. Haynes was later named an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America, marking the first time in the program's history a player had earned that prestigious honor. During the 2008-09 season, the Garland, Texas native guided his squad to a win over Sam Houston State earning his 50th career win in just his 90th career game, which was the fastest any coach in school history had accomplished this feat. It took the previous fastest coach Eddie McCarter 121 games to reach 50 wins. Earlier that season he guided his team to four non-conference road wins against Division I opponents for the first time in school history. He led UTA to nine conference wins in 2009 -- the most since the program won 11 in 2004. Known as a tireless worker, excellent recruiter and great ambassador for his program, Cross has registered a 79-73 record in his first four seasons. With the third-youngest team in the nation, Cross still managed to guide his team to a 13-16 record. UT Arlington now has a more experienced squad and is expected to make waves in its final year playing in the Southland Conference and in Texas Hall. During the offseason, Cross the Mavericks played in an exhibition tour in British Columbia, Canada. UT Arlington inspired confidence for the 2011-12 season on the trip by going 5-0 and winning games by an average of 45 points per game. After a slow start to the conference season in 2010, Cross led his team to seven wins in the next eight contests. Haynes finished the season as the third-leading scorer in the nation at 22.6 points per game. Cross' Mavs led the Southland Conference in 2009 in scoring at 79.4 points per game in league play and ranked 24th in the nation in overall scoring offense. The team was first in free throw percentage and second in field goal percentage among Southland teams while ranking 19th and 38th in those areas respectively in the country. The Mavs were the only team in the Southland to rank in the top three in each of these statistical categories. He led the 2008 NCAA Tournament team to a school record 21 victories which also included the best start in school history with an 8-0 mark. These successes led the team to start getting noticed more around the country. During the season the Mavericks were ranked for the first time in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Poll. UTA received its highest ranking of the season at No. 14 in December of that season. From the end of the 2007 season throughout the 2008 season, Cross led his team to a school-record 17 consecutive wins at Texas Hall. Over the last three seasons, his teams are 34-10 at home, making Texas Hall one of, if not the toughest places to play in the Southland. After spending time as a player and assistant coach at UTA before becoming the head coach, Cross knew how special it was to represent his alma mater against top-ranked Memphis at the NCAA Tournament in 2008. "It was like a dream come true for me," Cross said. "I had put so many years into this program and to finally see this goal realized it was a truly an amazing feeling. Now that we know what it feels like, we will continue to work to realize this dream each and every season." Cross was named the head coach of his alma mater on April 21, 2006 after serving as an assistant coach for the previous eight seasons. A three-year letter winner at UT Arlington from 1995-98, Cross gained the reputation as both a fierce competitor on the court and a scholar-athlete off the basketball floor. As a player, Cross appeared in 82 games for UTA, including 58 in the starting lineup. As a senior, Cross averaged 11.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, while converting a team-high 41.5 percent of his three-point shots, second best in the Southland Conference. In the classroom, Cross set the standard for UT Arlington basketball. A two-time GTE/College Sports Information Directors of America Basketball Academic All-American, earning third team as a junior and second team honors as a senior. Cross graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade point average in marketing. He is married to the former Jennifer Harris, who played volleyball for the Mavericks from 1995-98. The couple resides in Arlington and has three sons: Austin (8), Cody (5) and Tyler (4). |
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