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Larry Tidwell enters his second season as the head coach at Lamar University. A 33-year coaching veteran, Tidwell has made a major impact on the Lady Cardinals basketball program since his arrival in April of 2007. In his first season at the helm, the Lady Cardinals posted a 19-12 record and made their first appearance in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game in school history. The 19 wins were the most for an LU women's team in 16 years and gave Lamar its first winning season since the 1994-95 campaign. His initial recruiting class at Lamar was tabbed as the 31st best in the entire country by College Girls Basketball Report - Dan Olson. The recruiting class sported one of the best players in Europe - 6'2 Tamara Abalde of Spain. Likewise, Junior College all-American Nikki Williams is one of the highest rated recruits to ever wear the Red and White. Emily Spickler, who was the second leading three point shooter in the nation at 50 percent and led the nation in free throws at 92 percent, joined Agnija Reke, starting point guard for Odessa College, the 2007 Junior College National Champions and to give extra prestige to the class was highly rated Ashley Crawford of Trinity Valley College. Likewise, Tidwell is making a huge impact in the community. He has spread the word about the Lady Cardinal program in over 50-plus engagements and has added over $90,000.00 to the program through various fundraisers, coaching clinics, and Cardinal Club campaigning. Under Tidwell's guidance, the Lady Cardinals partnered with the Beaumont ISD to introduce the Character Counts program into the school system. A firm believer that his student athletes should give back, Tidwell encourages over 50 hours of voluntary community service from each player. The three Lady Cardinal Golf Tournaments have had over 300 players and sponsors while KLVI 560 AM signed on to host eighteen call in basketball shows during the course of the Tidwell's first year. On campus, the Lady Cardinal program is off and running with locker room renovations, additions to the Academic Court that included securing ten new lap top computers for in-house and on the road study labs, the signing of a partnership with Reebok - a major player in the sporting goods industry and the hiring of a new strength and conditioning coach. In addition, Tidwell has added special emphasis to academics with monitored study hall, excellent tutors in every field, and financing needed for summer school. Lady Cardinal Basketball camps showed an amazing 300+ percent increase as nearly 400 campers made their way into the Montagne Center. Marketing improvements include reserve season tickets for the first time, special events for each home game, and creating a fan friendly atmosphere. Tidwell's roots run deep in Texas, as he boasts 30 years of coaching experience in the Lone Star State, in addition to being a well-known figure in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida and the entire Midwest as well. Tidwell came to Lamar after spending eight seasons as the associate head coach at TCU. In his eight years at TCU, Tidwell helped the Lady Frogs to 173 wins and seven straight appearances in the NCAA tournament. The run of seven straight appearances in the Big Dance put TCU in elite company as one of less than 14 programs to go to the tournament every year since 2001. He also coordinated recruiting efforts for the Lady Frogs, organized scouting reports, helped with on-the-floor coaching and gave individual instruction to the TCU post players. In addition, Tidwell was in charge of all NCAA compliance issues in the program and had a clean slate for all eight years with the same results at Baylor and South Florida over a seven year period. A tireless worker who has coached in the Big 12 Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the former Southwest Conference, Tidwell has established a reputation as an organized and motivated recruiter who will go anywhere and everywhere to find talent. He has signed, developed, and coached over 20 student-athletes who have taken their game to the professional level. In May 2002, Tidwell was honored for his efforts, as he earned AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year recognition. Among 300,000 candidates, he was one of just 500 assistant coaches across the country to receive the award. Tidwell was instrumental in bringing in TCU's 2000 recruiting class, which was ranked 22nd in the country. His hard 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 2003 group was also ranked as a top 10 class. Tidwell went to TCU after a brief stint as an assistant coach at the University of South Florida. Prior to that post, he served as athletics director and head coach at Mexia (Texas) High School. Before assuming his duties at Mexia, Tidwell spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Baylor University. During his tenure with the Bears, Baylor won 35 games over his final two seasons and secured a Women's National Invitation Tournament berth. His recruiting classes were recognized among the top 25 in the nation on two occasions. In all, ten of his 15 college recruiting classes have been ranked among the nation's top 30. A native of Sanger, Texas, Tidwell compiled a 283-65 (.813) record in 12 years as a high school girls coach with stops in Frisco, Lexington, Schulenburg and Mexia during 17 total seasons. Tidwell's teams made 11 state play-off appearances during that time period. During the 1971-72 academic year, Tidwell played freshman football and basketball at TCU before transferring to Austin College, where he earned three monograms 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. Tidwell was a remarkable student-athlete at the collegiate and high school levels. In July 2004, he was inducted into the Austin College Hall of Fame, and the year before he earned a place in the Sanger H.S. Hall of Fame. Tidwell has served on the board of directors of the Texas Girls Coaches Association and the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. 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. He also has worked as assistant director of the TABC summer camps for girls. Named "Teacher of the Year" on two occasions, Tidwell was honored as Schulenburg's "Citizen of the Year" in 1991. In addition to his passion for the game of basketball, Tidwell excels in trying to help young college graduates find employment or for high school coaches to move into the college ranks. For Tidwell, some of his proudest moments come from helping young coaches find those jobs. Over the last 20 years, he has averaged over 25 new jobs a year for those aspiring teachers and coaches and he has credited this successful networking to his recruiting success. This network also extends through the TGCA Golf Tournament as Tidwell has served as director for the last 24 years with an average of more than 250 coaches playing per year. Married to the former Teresa Ann Davis, also of Sanger, the couple has three sons, Marc, Marty and Michael. In addition, Tidwell has two daughters-in-law, Kristin and Michele, two granddaughters, Ryan and Skylar, and two grandsons, Matthew and William. Michael (Saginaw HS, Saginaw, Texas) and Marty (Wakeland HS, Frisco, Texas) have followed their dad into the coaching profession while Marc is a very successful businessman in Houston with Bates Footwear, a division of Wolverine Boots. Talking about Tidwell "Lamar has a special "find" in Coach Tidwell. Larry has more than paid his dues. He is an excellent and tenacious recruiter that knows every layer of Texas talent. He has also outworked every coach in the country when it comes to building a network of contacts on the international recruiting front. In addition to being a productive, high octane recruiter, Larry Tidwell is also one excellent teacher that will definitely coach up his Lamar talent big time. Great recruiter; great coach ... and then there is Larry Tidwell aka Mr. Personality! It is great to see the good ones in our sport get rewarded and Coach Tidwell will make both Lamar University and Women's Basketball proud!"
"Larry Tidwell is a tremendous fit for Lamar. He is greatly respected by the entire basketball community nationally and especially in the state of Texas. His recruiting efforts helped build Baylor and TCU into nationally known programs. I am excited for Larry that he gets to run his own program and I know the Cardinal fans will be excited with the kind of team he will develop."
"Larry Tidwell is one of the best recruiters in the country. He will work countless hours to raise the Lamar women's basketball program. His energy and passion will benefit the entire Lamar athletic program. I have no doubt Lamar will be competing for southland conference championships very soon under his leadership."
"It's great to see Larry get a chance at being a head coach. No one is more deserving. His work ethic and passion for the game is second to none."
"Coach Tidwell represents everything that is "right" with College Basketball. He always has the best interest of the student-athlete at heart in all that he does. His teams compete at the highest level without ever compromising their integrity. He is truly one of the hardest working and most caring people I know."
"I respect Larry Tidwell more than any other coach in the NCAA, and that trust started way back in Schulenburg, Texas when he was a high school coach. We have a very brother-like friendship and he is somebody I can really trust. He's somebody that Lamar University can trust. He puts the welfare of the student athlete first and foremost, making them a student first and then and athlete."
"Larry Tidwell is like National Geographic of Texas. He's been everywhere and has been successful at every level of the game. No one in the state of Texas has more contacts with the high school and junior high school coaches than Larry. As Larry The Cable Guy says, `Git-r-done!' Larry The Basketball Coach will `Get it done' at Lamar."
"When I heard that my good friend Billy Tubbs had hired Larry Tidwell to be the women's basketball coach at Lamar University, I thought `Billy, you just hit a grand slam homerun.' Larry is a great coach and a great recruiter, and he'll do a great job for Lamar University."
"What a great hire for Lamar University. Larry Tidwell will bring energy, enthusiasm, dedication, and loyalty to Lamar University Lady Cardinal basketball. The high school coaches of Texas respect and support Coach Tidwell. They consider him a friend and one of them. He has always been unselfish in the giving of himself to promote, in a fair and positive way, the game of basketball and girls' athletics in general throughout his career."
"Lamar University has taken a real positive step towards the future with the hiring of Larry Tidwell. Every program he's been at has been successful. Some of them weren't successful before he got there, but they had a lot of success while he was there. He has a great relationship with all of the girl's coaches in the state of Texas and which will definitely help in recruiting and he is great working with the athletes."
"Larry Tidwell has an amazing passion for the sport of women's basketball, and throughout his coaching career he has made a huge impact, first at the high school level and then at the collegiate level. He has a great commitment to teaching, developing and working with young basketball players. I do not know anyone in the women's basketball coaching profession who has more friends than Larry Tidwell. He has taken a very selfless approach to always promoting the sport. I know Coach Tidwell will bring great successes to the Lamar basketball program."
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