|
Jerry Hobbie begins his second season as an assistant coach at Houston in 2008-09. During his first season with the UH program in 2007-08, Hobbie helped lead the Cougars to a 24-10 record, the team's highest single-season win total in nearly two decades. The Cougars also advanced to the semifinals of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational with wins at Nevada and against Valparaiso. He arrived at Houston after serving as an assistant coach for Wilmington of the American Basketball League in 2006-07. That season, he helped lead the Sea Dawgs to a 22-9 record and the Central Division championship of the Blue Conference. The Sea Dawgs advanced to the semifinals of the ABA Championship before falling at Vermont, the eventual champion. Prior to Wilmington, Hobbie served eight seasons on the basketball staff at Fairfield University. He served three seasons as an associate head coach and was an assistant coach for five seasons before his promotion in 2003-04. The Stags posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1978 and won 78 MAAC games after the school had won just 88 games in the previous 17 years. Fairfield's best season during his tenure came in 2002-03, when Fairfield finished with a 19-12 record and earned a NIT berth. The Stags featured four MAAC Defensive Players of the Year, while Darren Phillip was the national rebounding leader in 2000 and Deng Gai led the nation in blocked shots before he played with the Philadelphia 76ers. After his collegiate and professional playing days, Hobbie, began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Fordham in 1986-87. From there, he headed to Wall Street, working as a U.S. government securities bond broker for Lliberty Brokerage in New York City. During his last four seasons in private business, he also served as an assistant coach at St. Patrick's High in Elizabeth, N.J. Hobbie helped the team to a Top 25 ranking by USA Today and the 1998 New Jersey state championship. In addition to Gai, Hobbie has coached three other NBA players. They are Al Harrington and Samuel Dalembert at St. Patrick's High School and Danny O'Sullivan at Fordham. Hobbie played professionally with the USBL's West Chester Golden Apples in 1985 and spent two seasons in Europe with Nottingham of the English Basketball Association in 1985 and 1986. He was a member of Nottingham's 1986 EBL Division II Championship team. Although this is his first stint at Houston, Hobbie is no stranger to head coach Tom Penders. Hobbie played for Penders at Fordham in the mid-1980s, where he set school records for single-season free throw percentage, single-game assists and single-game and single-season steals. Hobbie continues to hold Ram records for single-season free throw percentage (87.7, 64-73 in 1981-82), single-game assists (15 against LaSalle on Dec. 28, 1984) and career steals (261), while his 180 career assists and 75 steals in 1984-85 season rank second among the school's all-time leaders. During his collegiate career the Rams won the MAAC championship in 1983 and earned four NIT berths from 1982-85. For his and his teams' impressive achievements on the court, Hobbie was inducted into Fordham's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005-06. Hobbie received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Fordham in 1985. A native of Elizabeth, N.J., he and his wife, Paula, have two daughters, Joanna and Lea. The family lives in Missouri City. |
||||||||||||||||||||||
