DRC full article on Rike leaving NT

[OldTimer]

Former UNT assistant hired as ASU head coach

08:40 AM CDT on Monday, April 3, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Fred Rike is heading back to his West Texas roots to reach his goal of becoming a head basketball coach again.

Rike spent the last five seasons as the associate head coach at North Texas, a tenure that came to an end Sunday afternoon when he was introduced as the head coach at Angelo State. ASU is a member of the Division II Lone Star Conference located in San Angelo, not too far from Rike’s hometown of Haskell.

Rike takes over for Joe Esposito who resigned before the end of his eighth season at ASU, which opened the $20 million Junell Center/Stephens Arena in 2002.

“I am elated about the opportunity,” Rike said. “We have the potential to be competitive on a national level. San Angelo is the nicest city in the conference, the arena is second to none in Division II and the people there are great.”

Rike was the head coach at Tyler Junior College from 1994-97, but spent the last several years as an assistant coach at various stops.

Rike said each was rewarding, but left him longing to be a head coach again.

ASU interviewed seven candidates for its opening before selecting Rike because of the reputation he built while working as an assistant at UNT, Georgia State, Memphis and Louisiana Tech.

“Everybody I talked to always had good things to say about Fred, whether it was on his campus or an opposing campus,” Angelo State athletic director Kathleen Basfield told the San Angelo Standard Times. “When we looked at things like that, Fred kept rising to the top.”

Rike came to UNT with head coach Johnny Jones before the 2001-02 season to rebuild a program that had won just 20 games the previous four years combined.

UNT immediately improved from four wins in 2000-01 to 15 a year later. The Mean Green have gone 14-14 in each of the last two seasons.

Jones described Rike as an integral part of UNT’s improvement.

“I have been very close to Fred since I have been the head coach,” Jones said. “We have developed a great relationship and not just as coaches. He has become like family. He has done a tremendous job on and off the floor with our kids and in the community.”

Rike will take on the challenge of reviving a second struggling program at ASU. The Rams finished 8-19 last season and went 0-12 in LSC play.

“They have some pretty talented players in the program, but we will have to hit the recruiting trail pretty hard,” Rike said.

Jones will spend the next few weeks looking for another assistant coach to round out his staff. Charlie Leonard is heading into his sixth season with the Mean Green, while Jai Steadman will begin his second year at UNT in the fall.

“I will visit with some people,” Jones said. “I have some in mind. You always have to continue looking and building relationships with coaches.”