Stu Starner

Stu Starner (born April 8, 1943) is an American former college basketball coach. He was an NCAA Division I head men's coach for eleven seasons for Montana State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).

Starner, a native of Hoffman, Minnesota, played basketball and football at the University of Minnesota Morris, graduating in 1965. After a successful high school coaching career in Wabasso and Richfield, Minnesota, Starner moved to the college ranks in 1978 as a graduate assistant at Minnesota. After assistant roles at Montana State and a second stint at Minnesota, Starner was hired as the head coach for Montana State in Bozeman, Montana in 1983.[1] In 1986, Starner's Bobcats won the 1986 Big Sky Conference Tournament as the 6 seed, gaining the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as the only team in the field with a losing overall record.[2] The following season, the Bobcats won the Big Sky Conference regular season title behind Conference Player of the Year Tom Domako.

In 1990, Starner took the unusual step of requesting a one-year sabbatical from his head coaching position at Montana State. His request was granted and assistant Mick Durham was named interim head coach.[3] However, Starner surprised the school two months later by accepting the head coaching position at UTSA.[4] Starner spent five seasons coaching the Roadrunners, Starner resigned in 1995 with an 84–58 record at the school. His teams won conference regular season championships in 1991 and 1992.[5]