Stan Joplin Released From Position as Head Men?s Basketball Coach
3/17/2008 4:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TOLEDO, OH ? University of Toledo Athletic Director Mike O'Brien announced today that Stan Joplin has been released from his position as head men's basketball coach.
O'Brien said a national search for Joplin's replacement will begin immediately. He indicated that assistant coach Nate Tuori will run the day-to-day operations of the team until a new head coach is named.
"I want to thank Stan Joplin for his years of dedicated service to the University of Toledo as a player, an assistant coach and as a head coach," said O'Brien. "Stan can be proud of many of his team's accomplishments in the past 12 years, both on the court and in the classroom. However, I felt it was time for the men's basketball program to move in a new direction."
Joplin recently completed his 12th season as head coach when the Rockets lost in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament to eventual champion Kent State, 77-57, last Thursday. The Rockets finished the 2007-08 season with an 11-19 record, 7-8 in MAC play.
Joplin's career record was 203-155 with appearances in the National Invitation Tournament in 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2007. During Joplin's tenure, the Rockets finished in first or second place in the MAC's West Division eight times, including in the 2006-07 season when UT captured the MAC regular-season title. His teams failed to win the MAC Tournament Championship, however, with their best finish coming in 2006 when the Rockets advanced to the championship game before losing to Kent State, 71-66.
Joplin's association with UT basketball spans 22 years as a player, assistant coach and head coach. During his playing career (1975-79), he helped UT post an 82-27 win-loss mark and co-captained the 1978-79 team that won the MAC championship. A 1995 inductee into the University of Toledo's Varsity ?T' Athletic Hall of Fame, he was most famous for his buzzer-beating shot that gave UT a 74-72 upset victory over Iowa in the 1979 NCAA Tournament and propelled the Rockets to the Sweet 16.
Joplin earned second-team All-MAC honors twice (1977-78, 1978-79) and was named first-team Academic All-MAC in 1977. His best season came as a junior when he averaged 10.3 ppg and 6.5 apg. He dished out 12 assists in a game twice in his career and ranks among UT career leaders in assists (428).
Joplin began his collegiate coaching career at Kent State for two seasons (1982-84) as an assistant to former Rocket assistant coach Jim McDonald. He then came back to Toledo for six seasons (1984-90) as an assistant with three years under Bob Nichols and three with Jay Eck.
Joplin next became an assistant coach at Michigan State for six years (1990-96), where he was a part of four NCAA Tournament teams and a pair of NIT squads. He served his first five seasons under Jud Heathcote before working with Tom Izzo in his final year.
Joplin returned to UT to become the Rockets' head coach in 1996. The Rockets made postseason play in Joplin's third season with an appearance in the 1999 NIT. UT opened the 1998-99 season with 10 straight wins, highlighted by consecutive victories over Ohio State, Xavier and Dayton.
UT ventured back into postseason play in 2000-01 with another NIT appearance. The Rockets advanced to the second round before bowing out at Alabama. Toledo also achieved some national notoriety with Joplin's first victory over a nationally ranked opponent, a 69-66 win against No. 18 Cincinnati at the Rock-N-Roll Shootout in Cleveland.
The Rockets returned to the NIT in 2004 and again in 2007, losing in the first round in both years.
A native of Milan, MI, Joplin holds bachelor of education (1979) and master of education (1989) degrees from UT. He and his wife, LaDonna, have two sons, Aaron and Shaun. Aaron works as a student assistant with the basketball program and is a junior at UT, while Shaun is a junior at Sylvania Southview High School where he competes for the varsity basketball, football and track teams.
