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Steve Shields
Head Men's Basketball Coach
Baylor, 1988
Sixth Season at UALR
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Steve Shields made quite an impact during his first two
seasons as head coach at UALR.
He led the Trojans to back-to-back Sun Belt
Conference East Division Championships and compiled an impressive
record of 25 wins and just three losses at Alltel Arena. Shields was named
the 2004 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, the first coach so
honored during his first year leading a Division I program. In 2004-05,
the Trojans notched a record of 18-10 and recorded a significant
non-conference win over Southern Illinois and swept Sun Belt opponent
Western Kentucky for the first time since the 1997-98 season. UALR was
selected to play in the prestigious ESPN Bracket Buster and the Trojans
played on TV eight times this season, more than any other year in recent
history.
In his 16 years of coaching, the
programs with which Shields has been involved have averaged nearly 21
wins a season.
Shields was named head coach at
UALR after three years as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator for
a team that won 18 games in three consecutive seasons. Shields was one of
the keys in sparking the biggest turnaround in Sun Belt Conference
history, taking a UALR team that won just four games the previous year
and leading it to an 18-11 record in the 2000-01 season. The Trojans
followed that with another 18-11 season despite losing four seniors and
the top three scorers from the previous year. UALR's 18-12 record in the
2002-03 season included a non-conference win over Colorado State and
victories against Sun Belt opponents New Mexico State, Middle Tennessee
and Arkansas State.
Shields came to UALR after a
four-year stint as head coach at McLennan Community College in Waco,
Texas. At MCC, Shields led the Highlanders to a regional championship in
1997-98 and their first national tournament appearance in 22 years.
After that season, Shields was voted the Texas Junior College Coach of
the Year by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches and received
Region V Coach of the Year honors as well.
During Shields' first year as head
coach at McLennan, the Highlanders were co-champions of the North Texas
Junior College Athletic Conference.
Previously, Shields was an
assistant at McLennan for three seasons and helped lead the Highlanders to
a combined 80-13 record. Twice, MCC was ranked in the top 10 nationally
and finished the 1992-93 regular season ranked as the No. 2 team in the
country.
Before making the move to
collegiate athletics, Shields was the athletic director and head football
and basketball coach at his alma mater, Reicher Catholic High School in
Waco. His football team claimed a district title after winning just one
game the previous season, and Shields led his basketball team to a 23-8
record after the squad won just two games the previous year.
Shields sat out his freshman year
as a redshirt at Oklahoma City University and then played basketball at
McLennan for one year. He then transferred to Baylor University where he
played golf for his father, longtime Baylor coach Gene Shields, and earned
All-Southwest Conference honors in 1987. Shields, born March 9,
1965, earned his bachelor of science in education in 1988 and a master's
in education in 1992, both at Baylor.
Shields has been married for 16
years to the former Dee Dieterich, an interactive account manager for
Stone Ward Fusebox in Little Rock. They have one son, Hayden Dieterich
Shields, born Sept. 17, 2001.
Steve
Shields fact sheet
Coaching
Career
n
April 10, 2003 -- Named head
coach at UALR
n
2000-03 – Assistant Coach
and recruiting coordinator, UALR
n
1996-2000 – Head coach,
McLennan Community College; Waco, Texas
n
1995-96 – Assistant coach,
Kilgore (Texas) Junior College
n
1993-94 – Assistant coach,
Pensacola (Florida) Junior College
n
1990-93 – Assistant coach,
McLennan Community College
n
1989-90 – Athletic
director, head basketball and football coach; Reicher Catholic High
School; Waco, Texas
n
1988-89 – Assistant
football and basketball coach, Reicher Catholic High School
Accolades
n
Led UALR to the Sun Belt Conference
East Division championship
in 2005 for the
second consecutive season.
n
Led UALR to the Sun Belt Conference
East Division championship
in his first year
as head coach. .
n
Named the Sun Belt Conference
Coach of the Year,
the first coach to ever earn that honor in his first year as a Division I
head coach
n
Top assistant at UALR as Trojans completed
three consecutive 18-win seasons
n
In 1998, Led McLennan to its first
National Junior College Tournament appearance in 22 years and a final
record of 27-8
n
Named Texas Junior College
Coach of the Year in 1998
n
Also chosen Junior College
Region V Coach of the Year in 1998
n
As assistant coach, helped
McLennan to 28-3 record and a No. 5 national ranking in the 1990-91 season
n
In 1992-93, assisted MCC to
a 29-0 regular-season record, a final record of 30-1 and a No. 2 national
ranking
n
Led Reicher Catholic High
School basketball team to a 23-8 record after taking over program that won
just two games previous season
n
Also led Reicher football to
district championship after winning just one game previous year
Biography
n
Born March 9, 1965
n
Baylor University, masters
in education, 1992
n
Baylor University, bachelor
of science in education, 1988
n
Reicher Catholic High
School, class of 1983
n
Married to Dee Dieterich,
Oct. 8, 1988
n
Son, Hayden Dieterich
Shields, born Sept. 17, 2001
What They're Saying...about
Steve Shields
Bill Self,
University of Kansas head coach:
“I've known Steve for many
years at the junior college and Division I levels. He's a tireless worker
and very driven. He'll continue the success that has been started there.
He's an excellent choice to become UALR's head coach. I anticipate the
program will continue to get better and better under his leadership. He's
one of the good guys, and I'm really happy for him.”
Dana Altman,
Creighton University head coach:
“UALR made a great choice in
Steve Shields. He's an excellent teacher of the game and a tireless
recruiter. His student-athletes will make the institution proud on and off
the court.”
Dennis Lindsey, Houston Rockets
vice president of basketball operations:
"UALR is very fortunate to have someone like Steve Shields take over
the program. Steve has been a proven winner at every level he's been at as
a head coach. He took McLennan Community College to the national
tournament, and as an assistant coach in Little Rock, he's helped turn
around a program that was in the bottom of the league and has continued to
build on that success. It's good to see bright, young assistant coaches
getting head coaching jobs when they deserve them."
Scott Adubato, Memphis
Grizzlies scout:
"I met Steve when we were at junior colleges in Texas. Because of his
work ethic, he became a great recruiter. He was able to identify talent,
and that's one of the big reasons he'll be successful in Little Rock. I
know he'll continue to win and to lead that program to even more winning
seasons."
Carroll Dawson, Houston Rockets
general manager:
"I've known Steve since I coached at Baylor and his dad was golf
coach. I watched him grow up and I thought he would be a golf coach like
his dad, but he ended up being an excellent basketball coach. I was happy
when he got the job in Little Rock. He's done a remarkable job everywhere
he's been, and I couldn't be more happy for him. I've been a fan of his
ever since he got into the profession."
Tim
Floyd, former New Orleans Hornets and Chicago Bulls head coach:
"I am really happy for Steve
and happy for UALR. Steve is going to be a terrific addition to the Sun
Belt Conference. He is an outstanding coach. He's won at every level and
there's no reason he won't have great success at UALR. He's going to make
the adjustment to being head coach and knock them dead."
Wendell Hudson,
former McLennan Community College director of athletics; current associate
athletics director at the University of Alabama:
“Arkansas-Little Rock getting
an outstanding person with Steve Shields. A long time ago, Bear Bryant
told me that if you surround yourself with good people, you're going to be
successful, and UALR has done that in hiring Steve Shields as basketball
coach. During his time at McLennan, not only did the basketball team
flourish, but his players also did well. They went to class, they
graduated, they did the right thing, and I know that at UALR, Steve will
continue to do those things.”
Dr. Dennis
Michaelis, McLennan Community College president:
“I'm thrilled for Steve and his
family. Not just Dee and Hayden, but his parents and his brothers. When
you talk about Steve Shields, you talk about the whole family.
“I'm proud for UALR
in selecting one of the finest young men connected with sports anywhere.
I'm thrilled that Steve has been selected as the head coach. He's an
outstanding basketball coach and an even better person. What he did with
our program in a very short amount of time just astounded me. He took a
team to the national tournament when we had not been there for years. He
did it with class and did it the right way. As president of MCC, that was
very, very important to me.
“Steve told me once
that he was grateful that I had taken a chance on him. But I knew I wasn't
taking a chance.”
