Tony Benford
Tony Benford (born March 22, 1964)
Current position: Associate head men’s basketball coach
Current team: TCU Horned Frogs (Head coach: Jamie Dixon)
Current conference: Big 12 Conference
Teams coached: North Texas Mean Green, LSU Tigers
North Texas record: 62-95 (.395)
LSU record: 3-2 (.600)
Overall record: 65-97 (.401)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1 (2019)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 1 (2019)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2021-present | TCU (assoc. HC) |
| 2019-2021 | TCU (asst) |
| 2019 | LSU (interim HC) |
| 2017-2019 | LSU (asst) |
| 2012-2017 | North Texas |
| 2011-2012 | Marquette (assoc. HC) |
| 2008-2011 | Marquette (asst) |
| 2006-2008 | Nebraska (asst) |
| 2004-2006 | Arizona State (assoc. HC) |
| 1998-2004 | Arizona State (asst) |
| 1992-1998 | New Mexico (asst) |
Tony Benford Facts
- Tony L. Benford
- Born March 22, 1964
- Hometown: Hobbs, New Mexico
- Alma Mater: Texas Tech University (BA, 1986)
- Was New Mexico Player of the Year in 1982 at Hobbs HS before heading to Texas Tech to play for head coach Gerald Myers
- Drafted in the fourth round of the 1986 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, though his professional career was spent in the Dutch Basketball League
- Began coaching back in his home state in 1992 as an assistant under Dave Bliss at New Mexico
- After 6 years at UNM, joined Rob Evans‘ staff at Arizona State – started as an assistant and then promoted to associate head coach in 2004
- Benford would later hire Evans as his associate head coach at North Texas
- Spent two years on Doc Sadler‘s staff at Nebraska and then four on Buzz Williams‘ staff at Marquette – two as an assistant and two as associate head coach – before being hired at North Texas in 2012
- In five years as the Mean Green head coach, Benford went 62-95 overall and 30-60 in conference
- Benford was the coach in 2013 when UNT moved from the Sun Belt to Conference USA
- Fired in March 2017 following a 8-22 (2-16) seasons
- Joined Will Wade‘s first staff at LSU as an assistant coach in March 2017
- Took over as interim head coach in March 2019 while Wade was suspended; coached the Tigers to a 3-2 record and reached the NCAA Sweet 16
- Following Wade‘s reinstatement at LSU, Benford left to be one of Jamie Dixon‘s assistants at TCU
- In 2021, Benford was elevated to associate head coach for the Horned Frogs
- Along with his wife, Deborah, has two daughters and one son
Tony Benford Coaching Tree
- Bart Lundy (Milwaukee, Queens NC)
