Rice University Men's Basketball

Rob Lanier was named the 26th head men’s basketball coach at Rice on March 24, 2024. Lanier brings more than 30 years of experience as a collegiate coach, including nine seasons as a head coach at Siena, Georgia State, and SMU. In his coaching career, he has been on staff for 12 NCAA Tournaments and 20 total postseason bids. Those teams combined for five conference titles, three regular season championships and two tournament crowns, plus five more trips to a league tournament final. This past season at SMU, he led the Mustangs to a 20-13 record, including an 11-7 in the American Athletic Conference and the second seed in the AAC Championship. SMU saw a 10-game improvement in its overall record and more than doubled its win total in the conference this past season. One of those conference wins was a 95-69 win over Rice at Tudor Fieldhouse on February 4. Lanier came to SMU after posting a 53-30 record in three seasons at Georgia State, capped by a Sun Belt tournament championship in 2022 and a berth in the NCAA Championship. He led the Panthers to the SBC tournament championship game in each of his last two years. Before he arrived at Georgia State, Lanier spent eight seasons as associate head coach to Rick Barnes, four at Tennessee (2015-19) preceded by four at Texas (2011-15). The Volunteers went 26-9 in 2017-18, sharing the SEC title and making the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They followed with a 31-6 campaign that saw Tennessee rise to No. 1 in the national polls

Andre Owens begins his first season as Assistant Coach on South Main. This past season at SMU, he helped lead the Mustangs to a 20-13 record, including an 11-7 in the American Athletic Conference and berth in the NIT. SMU saw a nine-game improvement in its overall record and more than doubled its win total in the conference this past season. Under his tutelage, SMU led the AAC in field goal percentage defense (.413), assists (15.7), rebounding margin (+5.1), offensive rebounds (14.5), and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), ranked second in rebounding (39.8), steals (8.4), and scoring margin (+8.0), and third in three-point field goal percentage defense (.317) and blocks (4.8). Following his first season on the Hilltop, which included a runner-up finish at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Owens helped bring in a transfer class ranked as high as No. 42 nationally and No. 2 in The American. In August of 2023, the Mustangs went on a 10-day trip to Spain, going 3-0 with games in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. Owens came to the Hilltop after three seasons as an assistant coach at Sam Houston (2019-2022). The Bearkats went 56-36 in three seasons, including a 37-17 conference record. The Bearkats were in the top four in the league standings each season. In 2021, Owens was named to the Dave Campbell’s Texas Basketball 40 under 40. He spent the previous three seasons as the head coach at Western Texas College in Snyder (2016-19). The Westerners went 50-38 under Owens. Western Tex

Chris Kreider begins his second stint on South Main and his sixth season working with Head Coach Rob Lanier, including the last two years as an assistant coach at SMU and three seasons at Georgia State. This past season at SMU, he helped lead the Mustangs to a 20-13 record, including an 11-7 in the American Athletic Conference and berth in the NIT. SMU saw a nine-game improvement in its overall record and more than doubled its win total in the conference this past season. Under his tutelage, SMU led the AAC in field goal percentage defense (.413), assists (15.7), rebounding margin (+5.1), offensive rebounds (14.5), and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), ranked second in rebounding (39.8), steals (8.4), and scoring margin (+8.0), and third in three-point field goal percentage defense (.317) and blocks (4.8). Following his first season on the Hilltop, which included a runner-up finish at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Kreider helped bring in a transfer class ranked as high as No. 42 nationally and No. 2 in The American. In August of 2023, the Mustangs went on a 10-day trip to Spain, going 3-0 with games in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. Kreider was selected to the Top Connect Basketball Symposium in 2022 and 2023. The networking and leadership event that includes athletics directors and some of the top assistant coaches in the country. He was also invited to the 2023 Jay Bilas Coaches Leadership Program, which is intended to help experienced Division I assistant coaches

Jack Schoemann is in his first season as Special Assistant to the Head Coach. Schoemann spent last year in the same role at SMU. This past season at SMU, he helped lead the Mustangs to a 20-13 record, including an 11-7 in the American Athletic Conference and berth in the NIT. SMU saw a nine-game improvement in its overall record and more than doubled its win total in the conference this past season. SMU led the AAC in field goal percentage defense (.413), assists (15.7), rebounding margin (+5.1), offensive rebounds (14.5), and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), ranked second in rebounding (39.8), steals (8.4), and scoring margin (+8.0), and third in three-point field goal percentage defense (.317) and blocks (4.8). In August of 2023, the Mustangs went on a 10-day trip to Spain, going 3-0 with games in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. He joined the Mustangs after serving as a Graduate Assistant at Cal State Bakersfield in 2022-23, where he played for the Roadrunners from 2019-22. As a Graduate Assistant, his responsibilities involved player development, video operations and travel logistics. Schoemann played for Head Coach Rod Barnes during his career at CSUB (2019-22) after playing one season at Colorado State (2018-19). The Prairie Village, Kansas, native played at Shawnee Mission East High School and with MoKan on the AAU circuit. He graduated from Cal State Bakersfield with his bachelor's in Interdisciplinary Studies in 2022 and then earned a master's in Administration in 2023. "

Jeff joined the Rice University Sports Medicine Department in May 2017. He is the Director of Director of Olympic Sports and Assistant Athletic Trainer responsible for managing the health care of Rice Men’s Basketball. Jeff is a graduate of Concordia University Texas where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Kinesiology. During his undergraduate experience at Concordia, he worked primarily with the both men and women’s basketball programs, and baseball and softball programs. He also served a as a seasonal intern for the Texas Stars, affiliate of the Dallas Stars, in the American Hockey League. In his final season with the team he earned championship accolades as the organization went on to win their first AHL Calder Cup Championship in in 2014. He received his Master of Science degree in Athletic Training from Stephen F. Austin State University, where he worked as the primary graduate student the SFA football program. Jeff also had the opportunity to intern in the NFL with the Houston Texas during the 2016 training camp and preseason. Previously, Jeff worked the past 4 season with the Rice Women’s Basketball program. He accompanied the team during their record 28 win season while sweeping both the C-USA regular season (16-0) and conference tournament. The team climbed high as No. 21 in the AP Top-25 Poll, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 14 years. Jeff was the primary athletic trainer during the team’s 3 consecutive conference championships, post

Jordan Glover begins his first season on South Main as the Director of Player Personnel. This past season at SMU, he helped lead the Mustangs to a 20-13 record, including an 11-7 in the American Athletic Conference and berth in the NIT. SMU saw a nine-game improvement in its overall record and more than doubled its win total in the conference this past season. Under his tutelage, SMU led the AAC in field goal percentage defense (.413), assists (15.7), rebounding margin (+5.1), offensive rebounds (14.5), and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), ranked second in rebounding (39.8), steals (8.4), and scoring margin (+8.0), and third in three-point field goal percentage defense (.317) and blocks (4.8). Following his first season on the Hilltop, which included a runner-up finish at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Owens helped bring in a transfer class ranked as high as No. 42 nationally and No. 2 in The American. In August of 2023, the Mustangs went on a 10-day trip to Spain, going 3-0 with games in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. He spent the previous two seasons (2020-22) as a graduate assistant on Lanier’s staff at Georgia State. In those two seasons, the Georgia State won the 2022 Sun Belt Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers also made the Sun Belt Tournament final in 2021. The Panthers totaled three all-conference honors in those seasons. Glover spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant coach at Daemen College in Buffalo, N.Y., where he helped the pr

Josten Crow begins his first season as Assistant Coach on South Main. This past season at SMU, he helped lead the Mustangs to a 20-13 record, including an 11-7 in the American Athletic Conference and berth in the NIT. SMU saw a nine-game improvement in its overall record and more than doubled its win total in the conference this past season. Under his tutelage, SMU led the AAC in field goal percentage defense (.413), assists (15.7), rebounding margin (+5.1), offensive rebounds (14.5), and assist/turnover ratio (1.4), ranked second in rebounding (39.8), steals (8.4), and scoring margin (+8.0), and third in three-point field goal percentage defense (.317) and blocks (4.8). Following his first season on the Hilltop, which included a runner-up finish at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Crow helped bring in a transfer class ranked as high as No. 42 nationally and No. 2 in The American. In August of 2023, the Mustangs went on a 10-day trip to Spain, going 3-0 with games in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. In his lone season with Louisiana Tech (2021-22), Crow helped the Bulldogs finish with a 24-10 record while advancing to the Conference USA championship game. He helped coach two All-C-USA selections in Kenneth Lofton, Jr. (First Team, now with the Memphis Grizzlies) and Cobe Williams (Honorable Mention) as well as Kaleb Stewart who was voted to the C-USA All-Freshman Team. Crow previously worked at University of Louisiana from 2015-21, first as the Director of Student-A

Vinnie Calautti is in his first season as the Men's Basketball Strength and Conditioning Coach. Calautti spent the last two years in the same role at SMU. He...