Larry Tidwell Position: Head Coach Experience: Third Year

Since taking over the Lady Cardinal helm, Larry Tidwell has taken the Lamar University program to heights not scaled since the early 1990s.

Last season's 20-victory total was Lamar's first since the 1991-1992 season, and Tidwell's first Lady Cardinal team in 2007-2008 posted the school's first winning season in 13 years. The Lady Cards' two-year victory total of 39 under Tidwell is the most in back-to-back seasons since the 1990-1991 and 1991-1992 teams combined for 50 wins.

Tidwell's first Lamar team pulled off a stunner by advancing to the championship game of the 2008 Southland Conference Tournament with wins of 60-48 over preseason favorite Stephen F. Austin and 63-50 over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Last season, the Lady Cardinals again defeated SFA in the first round of the tournament before falling to Texas-Arlington in the semifinals.

Tidwell came to Lamar in 2007 after serving eight seasons as an assistant coach and recruiter at TCU, helping the Lady Frogs achieve 173 victories and seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2002, he earned AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year recognition.

The 34-year coaching veteran has worked in the Big 12 Conference, Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA as well as the former Southwest Conference. He is credited with helping sign, develop and coach more than 20 student athletes who have taken their talents to the professional level, the most recent being Tamara Albalde who was the SLC's Freshman of the Year in 2007-2008 and a first-team all-conference selection before signing with a team in her native Spain, in addition to playing for the Spanish National Team in the 2008 Olympics.

Tidwell made an immediate impact upon the women's program by guiding his first team to the school's first ever SLC East Division championship. Along the way, the Lady Cards won 19 games and posted two five-game winning streaks. The Lady Cardinals' 12 conference victories that season were the second highest in school history, and Nikki Williams and Brittney Williams joined Albalde in earning All-SLC laurels, both on the second team.

For an encore, Tidwell's second Lamar team roared out of the blocks by winning six of its first seven games with the lone loss being on the road to perennial national power Baylor. The Lady Cards later posted streaks of four and five straight wins in conference play, and they went 14-2 in the Montagne Center where home attendance saw a significant increase. Nikki Williams and Brittney Williams were repeat All-SLC performers, and newcomer Darika Hill also earned all-league laurels.

Off the court, Tidwell made strides in enriching pride, recognition and support for the women's program by establishing the Lady Cardinal Basketball Walk of Champions on the Montagne Center's upper concourse.

Also, Tidwell created the Wall of Excellence, which is on display on the lower concourse outside of the Lady Cardinal locker room, to honor community service, leadership, academics and basketball honors for present day players. A Graduation Wall is located inside the locker room.

Another sign of Tidwell's influence is that the Cardinal Club, Lamar athletic booster organization, took in 75 new members who specifically designated their financial support to women's basketball. Another priority of Tidwell's is stepping up efforts to reunite with Lady Cardinal players of the past.

Also under Tidwell's watch, the Lamar Website (www.lamarcardinals.com) has become highly followed as has the audio streaming of all Lady Cardinal games the past two seasons. Tidwell also began the Lamar Women's Basketball Clinic in the fall of 2007, and it was well attended again in 2009 after being forced on the shelf by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Soon after his arrival in the spring of 2007, Tidwell joined Lamar athletics director Billy Tubbs and other athletic officials in achieving the addition of a first class strength and conditioning center for the Montagne Center, thus enhancing the Cardinal athletes' chances of becoming bigger, faster and stronger.

Tidwell long ago earned a strong reputation as a master recruiter, and he has certainly lived up to that reputation since taking over the Lady Cardinal helm. All three of his Lamar recruiting classes have received high ratings by national recruiting reports and publications.

In addition to Albalde, Nikki Williams and Hill, Tidwell has brought in top performers such as Emily Spickler, Trashanna Smith, Agnija Reke and Ang Green, and this season's roster has the additions highly-regarded redshirt players Jenna Plumley, Myriam Igoufe and Kalis Loyd. The 2009 recruiting class includes 6-foot-3 forward Aleksandra Miletic of Carl Albert State College and Nebraska transfer Monique Whittaker as well as such high school phenoms as Danielle Heithoff, Jasmin Henderson, Krista Phillips and Taylor Hays.

Tidwell has made a huge impact in Southeast Texas by spreading the Lady Cardinal word through close to 200 speaking engagements and has helped attract financial support for the program through the annual Lady Cardinal Golf tournament, other fundraisers, coaching clinics and Cardinal Club campaigning. Also under Tidwell's guidance, the Lady Cardinals have partnered with the Beaumont Independent School District to introduce the Character Counts program into the school system. In their effort to give back to the community, each of the Lady Cardinal players devotes more than 50 hours of voluntary community service, and as a team the Lady Cards have netted over 3,000 volunteer hours over the past two years.

On the academic side, Tidwell has added special emphasis with monitored study hall through the Stars program, capable tutors in every field and the securing of financing needed to enable student athletes to attend summer school. In this regard, the Lady Cardinals' cumulative grade point average has continued to rise with each semester as Tidwell has made graduation a must for his players (all three seniors on last season's roster did, in fact, graduate in May).

Meanwhile, the Lady Cardinal Basketball Summer Camps have experienced phenomenal growth since Tidwell's arrival as nearly 1,000 campers have received instruction from the camp staff in each of the past two years. Both the individual and team camps have been very popular to players throughout Southeast Texas and the entire state.

Recent marketing improvements have included reserved season tickets for Lady Cardinal basketball for the first time in school history, special promotions for each home game and the creation of a fan-friendly atmosphere.

Tidwell's roots run deep as he possesses 34 years of coaching experience in the Lone Star State, but he's also a well-known figure in women's basketball throughout the entire country and abroad. His international roots run deep as he has coached and signed players from Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Latvia, Trinidad, Sweden, Slovakia, Belgium, France, Iceland, Jamaica, Serbia, Nigeria, Lebanon, Poland and Denmark.

Tidwell came to Lamar after spending eight seasons as the associate head coach at TCU, where he helped the Lady Frogs become one of only 14 programs to advance to the NCAA Tournament every year between 2001 and 2007. He also coordinated recruiting efforts for the Lady Frogs, organized scouting reports, helped with the on-floor coaching and provided individual instruction to the post players. Additionally, he was in charge of all NCAA compliance issues within the program, compiling a clean slate for eight years as he previously did at Baylor and South Florida over a seven-season span.

Tidwell was instrumental in bringing in TCU's 2000 recruiting class, which was ranked 22nd in the country. His dedicated work continued as the Lady Frogs' 2001 class was ranked as high as fourth nationally, making it the most highly touted in the program's history. The Lady Frogs' 2003 class was also ranked in the Top 10.

Tidwell went to TCU after a brief stint as an assistant coach at the University of South Florida. He aslo spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Baylor University, helping the Bears win 35 games over his final two seasons and securing a Women's National Invitation Tournament berth.

During Tidwell's tenure at Baylor, the Bears' recruiting classes were twice recognized among the Top 25 in the nation. In all, 12 of his 17 college recruiting classes have been ranked among the nation's Top 40.

A native of Sanger, Texas, Tidwell compiled a 283-65 (.813 percentage) record in 12 years as a high school girls basketball coach with stops in Frisco, Lexington, Schulenburg and Mexia. During 17 total seasons, his teams made 11 state playoff appearances.

During the 1971-1972 academic year, Tidwell played freshman football and basketball at TCU before transferring to Austin College, where he earned three letters in football, three in baseball and two in track and field. A member of Beta Chi Omega national fraternity, he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the school in 1976. In July 2004, he was inducted into the Austin College Hall of Fame, and the year before he earned a place in the Sanger High School Hall of Fame.

Tidwell has served on the board of directors of the Texas Girls Coaches Association and the Texas Association of Basketball Coach. In 1991, he coached in the TGCA All-Star game and was selected again in 1999 but had to withdraw when he moved to Tampa to take the South Florida position.

In 2008, Tidwell was the recipient of the TGCA's prestigious Margaret McKown Distinguished Service Award for his then 32 years of service to the organization. He also has worked as assistant director of the TABC summer camps for girls. Named "Teacher of the Year" on two occasions, he was honored as Schulenburg's "Citizen of the Year" in 1991.

Some of Tidwell's proudest moments come from helping young college graduates find employment as teachers/coaches and then helping some move into the college ranks. He has helped find jobs for an average of 25 aspiring teachers/coaches a year, and he has credited this networking to aiding his recruiting success.

Tidwell expanded this network by serving as director of the annual TGCA Golf Tournament for 25 years, ending with the 2008 event.

Married to the former Teresa Ann Davis (also of Sanger), the couple has three sons - Marc, Marty and Michael. They have two daughters-in-law - Kristin and Michele - two granddaughters - Ryan and Skylar - and two grandsons - Matthew and William. Michael (at Saginaw, Tex. High School) and Marty (at Frisco Wakeland High School) have followed their dad into the coaching profession, while Marc is a successful businessman in Houston with Bates Footwear, a division of Wolverine Boots.