Talvin Hester joined the men's basketball staff for the 2013-14 season, most recently after a one-year stint with Stephen F. Austin.
Hester spent one season under head coach Danny Kaspar at SFA during the 2012-13 season. In his one year with the Lumberjacks, Hester helped SFA to an impressive 27-5 overall record, the Southland Conference regular season title, and a trip to the NIT. The Lumberjacks posted the fourth-best record in all of Division I basketball in 2013. SFA finished the season with the No. 1 scoring defense in the nation.
Before arriving at Stephen F. Austin, Hester coached at San Jose State for two years. During his time with the Spartans, SJSU had impressive non-conference wins over Oregon from the Pac-12, and the University San Francisco from the West Coast Conference. In his first year with the Spartans, they earned the first postseason bid for San Jose State since 1996, and they recorded the most wins since the 1980-81 season.
Prior to his time at San Jose State, Hester spent five seasons (2006-2010) on the Prairie View A&M staff, eventually being promoted to the position of associate head coach. He helped the Panthers to winning records in both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons after Prairie View had suffered five consecutive losing seasons, failing to win at least 10 games in each of those seasons and not having back-to-back winning records for a 32-year span.
With Hester's assistance, the Panthers emerged as not only one of the top defensive teams in the Southwest Athletic Conference, but in the nation. In 2009-10, Prairie View ranked in the top 15 nationally in field goal percentage defense (14th) and three-point field goal percentage defense (11th) last season.
Hester broke into coaching in 2002 at North Lake College in Irving, Texas. He also spent one year at his alma mater Texas Wesleyan. His wide-ranging coaching resume includes stops with the Texas Rim Rockers of the United States Basketball League as an assistant coaching intern and the Dallas Mustangs AAU team for one season. He was an assistant coach at Texas College in Tyler, Texas for the 2005 season before going to Prairie View A&M.
A 2003 Texas Wesleyan University graduate, he majored in interdisciplinary studies. Hester played his college basketball at Dallas Christian College.
Hester was raised in Arlington, Texas. He is married to the former Jamieka Jackson, and they have a daughter, Rhyan.
