Texas State Athletics

Doug Davalos is entering his seventh year at Texas State, after becoming the sixth-winningest coach in school history this past season with 80 career wins. Davalos was honored with the 2012 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Literacy Champion Award at the annual AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show that held at the New Orleans Theatre in the Ernest Morial Convention Center. 

In 2012, Davalos’ squad finished the season, 13-17 (5-11 SLC), one win shy of qualifying for the conference tournament. Although the season did not end the way Texas State wanted, they were able to come away with a few accomplishments on-and-off the court.

The Bobcats recorded a home win streak of 16 games from December 31, 2010 to December 28, 2011. Texas State’s streak ended on January 4, 2012 – where the Bobcats were ranked 10th in the nation in the category at the time. The Bobcats also finished in the top 25 in scoring offense for the fifth consecutive season. Texas State’s game versus conference foe UTSA on January 12, 2012 brought in 4,458 fans for the fourth-best attendance in Strahan Coliseum history. Individually, Matt Staff was voted third-team all-conference. Off the court, Brooks Ybarra and Jordan Kirschke were named to the Southland Conference All-Academic teams, as well as the NABC Honors Court.

Davalos’ 2010-11 squad posted a 16-16 (.500) overall record, while going 10-6 in conference play to earn a share of the Southland Conference West Division title and finish with the 15th best scoring offense in the nation. Texas State finished the regular season tied for second place overall in the league and advanced to the semifinals of the SLC Tournament for the first time since 2003.

Both Tony Bishop and Ryan White were selected to the all-conference teams; the first time since 2005 that Texas State has had two players on the team together. White and Jonathan Sloan were also selected to the SLC All-Academic teams.

The Bobcats recorded 11 victories in Strahan Coliseum, which marked the third straight year the Bobcats have posted double digit victories in home games. Texas State also went undefeated in conference play at home.

When Davalos joined Texas State in 2006, he inherited a team that won three games the year before he arrived and had issues with the APR that resulted in the men's basketball team playing with just 11 scholarship players. Before the start of the 2010-11 season, foxsports.com announced that Davalos was ranked No. 2 of all Division I head coaches in total increase in APR score. Since Davalos' arrival in 2006, 16 student-athletes have graduated under the men's basketball program.

Davalos coached the 2009-10 squad to an overall record of 15-16, 9-7 (.562) in league play, the team’s best league winning percentage since 1998-99 (13-5, .722). Texas State led the Southland Conference in steals (285) and offensive rebounds (15 rpg). The Bobcats finished the season ranked in the Top 25 in the nation in both categories, as they earned their second consecutive trip to the Southland Conference Tournament.

In 2008-09, he led the Bobcats to the SLC Tournament for the first time since 2005 and improved Texas State’s overall win total for a third straight season. The Bobcats ranked fourth nationally in scoring offense with 81.5 points per game. Texas State held its opponents to seven fewer points per game and increased its field goal percentage by nearly four percentage points. The Bobcats also cut their turnovers down by an average of 1.5 fewer turnovers per contest.

With a history of turning around struggling programs both as an assistant and head coach, Davalos was named the program’s 14th head coach on April 4, 2006. He quickly made some strides in his first recruiting class when he signed four of the Top 40 high school recruits in the State of Texas along with one of the most prolific scorers in junior college basketball history.

On the court, Texas State tripled its win total from the previous season as the Bobcats finished the 2006-07 campaign with a 9-20 overall record and posted a 4-12 record in Southland Conference games.

In 2007-08, Davalos had the Bobcats in contention to play in the Southland Conference Tournament until the final week of the regular season. Texas State improved its overall win total to 13, finishing 2007-08 with a 13-16 overall record. The Bobcats also finished the season ranked third nationally in scoring after averaging 83.6 points per game, cut their turnovers by an average of 1.2 per game and improved their field goal percentage defense from 50.7 percent to 47 percent.

Off the court, the Bobcats have served the community of San Marcos by visiting and reading books to elementary children each year as part of the NABC Reading Program that is sponsored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The Bobcats also serve as volunteers in various campus initiatives such as cancer awareness rallies, as well as working with the San Marcos Public Housing Authority.

Davalos came to Texas State after he turned another school in the Texas State University System, Sul Ross State, into a perennial winner during his four seasons. He guided the Lobos to three straight American Southwest Conference West Division championships and four consecutive post-season appearances. In four years at the NCAA Division III school, Davalos’ teams were 72-35 overall and 52-20 in the ASC.

His first Sul Ross State team (2002-03) posted the school’s first winning season since 1979. At the time, it was the best record in school history at 19-6 overall and 12-2 in ASC play. Davalos was named the ASC West Division Coach of the Year.

The following year, the Lobos were 21-9 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The NCAA Tournament appearance was the school’s first.

The 2004-05 team followed the ASC championship season with a 19-7 overall record and a third straight divisional title. Sul Ross State lost eight seniors off its 2005 team and had five freshmen see significant playing time during the 2005-06 season as the squad went 13-13 overall. The Lobos won six of their last seven regular-season games to secure the school’s fourth straight post-season appearance.

Off the court, while a member of the Big Bend community, Davalos established "Reading with the Lobos," an Accelerated Reader program for K-5 students at Alpine Elementary as well as the "Lobos vs. Cancer" fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society. He also served as an NCAA Division III Basketball Championship site representative.

Prior to being named the head coach at Sul Ross State, Davalos was an assistant for two years at Eastern New Mexico University where he assisted in the rebuilding of the Division II program. Davalos was part of a staff which inherited a program that was 3-23, but in two years had improved to 15-12 and qualified for the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the first time in five years.

Davalos recruited players to Eastern New Mexico who won back-to-back LSC South Division Championships in 2003 and 2004.

In addition to his collegiate experience, Davalos was the head coach for four years at Fort Stockton High School (1996-2000) where he had a combined 71-49 record and led the West Texas school to four straight winning seasons. His 1999-2000 Fort Stockton team posted a 19-12 record and advanced to the Texas State playoffs for just the second time in 30 years.

Davalos’ coaching career began as a student assistant coach at the University of Houston, and he was a graduate assistant coach at Auburn University at Montgomery where he had a variety of responsibilities including on-the-floor coaching, scouting, recruiting and academic advising.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Houston in 1994 and was conferred a Master of Arts in Education from Auburn-Montgomery, in 1996. He is also a graduate of San Antonio’s MacArthur High School where he was a member of the National Honor Society.

He is the son of Texas State All-American point guard Rudy Davalos, who captained the 1960 Texas State team to an NAIA national championship. The senior Davalos retired as the Director of Athletics at the University of New Mexico and is a distinguished Texas State alumnus (2001). He was inducted into the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Davalos and his wife Kim, a Texas State alumnus, have three daughters: Daylan, Danielle and Desiree.