University of Alabama at Birmingham Men's Basketball

Andy Kennedy was named the seventh head coach of the UAB men’s basketball program, Director of Athletics Mark Ingram announced on March 20, 2020. He returned to his alma mater where he is the second leading scorer in program history. Kennedy, who enters his sixth year with the program in 2025-26, has put together a 391-219 career coaching record as a college head coach. A two-time SEC Coach of the Year and winningest coach in the University of Mississippi history, Kennedy coached at Ole Miss from 2006-2018, before spending two years as a commentator for ESPN and the SEC Network. On July 21, 2022, Kennedy signed a six-year contract extension which goes through the 2027-28 season. He led UAB to another NIT Tournament run in the 2024-25 season, making it to the quarterfinals. UAB went up to Philadelphia and beat Saint Josephs 69-65 before two games out in California. The Blazers first beat Santa Clara before dropping the quarterfinals to UC Irvine, who made the NIT Championship. Kennedy also led UAB back to the American Conference Championship for the second year in a row and has made four straight conference championship appearances dating back to 2022 with Conference USA. Kennedy has 125 wins over the last five seasons, which is tied for the eleventh most in NCAA during that period. This was Kennedys’ fifth straight year of 22+ wins, which is the first time in program history to have five straight. Junior Yaxel Lendeborg helped UAB to 24 of those wins this season and was named

Heston Joins the Blazers after three years as an Assistant Coach at North Alabama in Florence. He also spent one year with the Lions as the Director of Player Development in 2021-22. Heston helped the Lions win their first ASUN Championship, make their first appearance in the NIT, and set their season record in wins at 24 in 2024-25. In the summer of 2021, Heston worked with Beyond Athlete Management and Dig Deep Basketball, helping prepare current NBA players Jae’Sean Tate and Isaiah Hartenstein for their seasons. He also worked with multiple players during their NBA pre-draft process including Jordan Hall and Matt Coleman. Heston also worked with longtime NBA trainer Phil Beckner, coaching various NBA athletes. He worked with two First Round Picks throughout their Pre-Draft process with Beckner (Ochai Agbaji who was drafted 14th to the Cleveland Cavaliers and David Roddy who was drafted 23rd to the Philadelphia 76ers). He also worked with numerous NBA Players during their off seasons including Damian Lilliard, Darius Bazley, and Frank Kaminsky. Before his experience developing NBA talent, Heston spent the 2020 season at Texas A&M University-Texarkana where he helped the Eagles to an 11-4 season and a trip to the 2020 NAIA National Tournament. Originally from Milwaukee, Wisc., Heston has additional experience coaching camps in southeast Wisconsin. In addition, he trained multiple college players at the Division I and Division II levels.

Shumate enters his second season at UAB in 2025-26. UAB men's basketball head coach Andy Kennedy announced the hiring of Georgia Southern assistant coach Chr...

Williams enters his second season at UAB in 2024-25. UAB men's basketball head coach Andy Kennedy announced the hiring of former UAB player Rob Williams as t...