Western Kentucky named Texas A&M Corpus-Christi’s Steve Lutz as its head basketball coach on Saturday.

Lutz, 50, led Corpus Christi to the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2023, and the Islanders won the program’s first tournament game on Tuesday with a 75-71 victory over Southwest Missouri State in the First Four.

He spent two seasons at Corpus Christi and tallied a 47-23 record. This year, he was named the Southland Conference and NABC District 22 Coach of the Year.

Corpus Christi finished the 2022-23 season with a 24-11 (14-4 Southland Conference) record and lost its first-round tournament game on Thursday to top overall seed Alabama, 96-75.

“We are excited to name Steve Lutz as our next head coach,” Western Kentucky coach Todd Stewart in a news release. “He is a proven winner and a respected coach with a track record of consistent success in recruiting, player development, academics, and community involvement. It is nice to hire someone with head coaching experience, but it is even better if they have winning head coaching experience.”

Contract terms were not announced.

Lutz, formerly an assistant coach at Purdue, did a “remarkable” job as a first-time head coach, Stewart said.

“He inherited a program with four consecutive losing seasons and led an immediate turn around culminating in conference championships and an NCAA Tournament appearance each season,” Stewart said. “He is the right person at the right time to lead our program.”

Lutz also had stints as an assistant coact at SMU, Stephen F. Austin, Incarnate Word and Garden City.

At Western Kentucky, Lutz replaces Rick Stansbury, who stepped down a week ago, citing a need to focus on his health and his family.

With the Hilltoppers, Stansbury had a 139-89 record. His teams reached three Conference USA title tames and an NIT Final Four.

–Field Level Media