ssistant Coaches Rowe and Slay and Strength & Conditioning Coach Land Join Bulls
St. Petersburg Native Rowe Returns to Bay Area
TAMPA, JULY 8, 2021 – Head coach Brian Gregory announced three new additions to his USF men’s basketball staff as the Bulls prepare for the 2021-22 season.
Gregory welcomed Assistant Coach Louis Rowe, Assistant Coach Jason Slay and Men’s Basketball Strength and Conditioning Coach David Land to Tampa. The fifth-year Bulls head coach also announced organizational adjustments within his current Bulls’ staff as assistant coach, Scott Wagers will move to Director of Recruiting and Scouting, while video coordinator Billy Hubly will oversee social media and NIL oversight for the program.
Rowe, a former standout at Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, returns to Florida and the Bay area with 13 years of collegiate coaching experience, including the previous four as the head coach at James Madison. Slay comes to USF after four seasons at Youngstown State, two as associate head coach, and Land comes to Tampa after a spending last season on the staff at Iowa State.
“I am excited about the new structure of our staff and the energy our new members will bring to our program,” Gregory said. “The landscape of college basketball has dramatically changed and I believe that building an over-all staff that could adapt and thrive in this new environment was one of our main off-season objectives. Having a veteran coach and recruiter like Scott Wagers oversee and direct our game plan preparation, self-scout analytics, and recruiting efforts will have such a positive impact on those critical operations. Billy Hubly’s knowledge of our program and technical skills will keep our program and players on the cutting edge regarding social media and NIL protocol.”
Louis Rowe, Assistant Coach
A St. Petersburg native, Rowe was Lon Kruger’s first recruit at the University of Florida and played two seasons for the Gators before transferring to James Madison University where finished a decorated career and later returned to as head coach leading the JMU program for four seasons (2016-20). He arrived at South Florida with 13 years of collegiate coaching experience, including serving on the staff at JMU (2007-12), Rider (2012-13), Florida International (2013-15) and Bowling Green (2015-16).
Rowe was a two-time All-CAA selection as a player at JMU, where scored more than 1,000 points (1,055) and led the Dukes to a CAA Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 1994 under “Lefty” Driesell. He returned to JMU to begin his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant (2007-10).
In previous stops in the state of Florida, he helped guide FIU to 31 wins from 2013-15. He also served as head coach at Osceola (Fla.) High School (2005-06) and Dixie Hollis High School (2006-07) in St. Petersburg immediately following a successful professional playing career in Europe (1995-2004).
“It is fantastic to be able to bring Louis back to the Bay area,” Gregory said. “Louis brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our program. He is a tremendous teacher of the game and builds great relationships with the players. Louis is a tireless recruiter who has strong connections not only in the Tampa Bay area but also throughout the entire state of Florida.”
Jason Slay, Assistant Coach
Slay comes to the Bulls from Youngstown State, where he spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach. YSU posted a combined record of 33-27 record over Slay’s last two seasons. In 2019-20, the Penguins went 18-15 for the program’s most wins since 2012-13. That season, YSU also won 10 games in Horizon League play – tying a school record.
Prior to Youngtown State, Slay had successful stints as an assistant coach at the Virginia Military Institute (2015-17), East Tennessee State (2014-15), Tennessee State University (2013-14) and as the director of basketball operations at Georgia Southern (2012-13). Slay also spent time as the top assistant coach at Hargrave Military Academy (Virginia) prior to joining the collegiate coaching ranks.
Slay was a four-time captain and two-year starter at West Virginia State University where he helped guide his team to three appearances in NCAA Division II Tournament Sweet 16 (2004, 2006 and 2007).
“I am very excited about bringing Jason to our USF staff,” Gregory said. “Jason has the energy and coaching style that I believe will have an immediate impact on our players. He has proven himself as a coach who can motivate and develop talent. Jason’s ability to evaluate and recruit highly talented players will also positively impact our program”
David Land, Strength and Conditioning Coach
Land spent the 2020-21 season as the director of strength and conditioning for Iowa State men’s basketball. He has the distinction of previously working with two men’s basketball programs that recorded undefeated conference seasons, doing so with Murray State (2014-15) and Wofford (2018-19).
Land trained prolific Wofford shooter Fletcher Magee, a 2,000-point scorer who set the NCAA Division I record with 509 career 3-pointers, earned two SoCon Player of the Year honors and was named an All-American as a senior as he led the Terriers to the NCAA Tournament. He also helped develop Murray State point guard Cameron Payne, who was the 2015 OVC Player of the Year and led the Racers to a 29-6 record before becoming a lottery pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Land’s has previously worked with teams at Virginia Tech, Utah State, UNC Wilmington, East Tennessee State, Milligan College and NC State.
He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
“We are extremely fortunate to bring in David Land as our new strength and conditioning coach,” Gregory said. “His experience and success speak for themselves. David will put our players in a position where they can reach their full potential as athletes. As he inspires our guys, David will help build our culture and create a versatile basketball athlete.”
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About USF Men’s Basketball
The USF men’s basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory, who enters his fifth season in 2021-22. Gregory was introduced as the 10th head coach in program history in March of 2017 after previously leading programs at Georgia Tech (2011-16) and Dayton (2003-11). Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State’s Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. Gregory owns over 300 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship with Dayton. In his second season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to the best win turnaround in the NCAA, the most single-season wins in school history and the 2019 College Basketball Invitational championship.
USF has retired three numbers in its 48-year history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids, appeared in the NIT eight times and won the 2019 College Basketball Invitational.
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