King added to TU basketball staff

As we first reported in Hurricane Alley on Thursday, new Tulsa basketball coach Eric Konkol added Yaphett King to fill the final assistant spot on his coaching staff.

King is very familiar with Konkol, as he spent three seasons as an assistant under Konkol at Louisiana Tech (2016-19) before spending the past three seasons as an assistant at SMU.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Yaphett again,” said Konkol. “He was with us for three years at Louisiana Tech and did a remarkable job. He’s an exceptional coach and mentor of young men. Yaphett has the unique ability to become friends with anybody he comes across.”

While at SMU, the Mustangs went 54-26 and made the NIT in 2021 and 2022. And during his time at Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs recorded two 20-win seasons.

King was an assistant coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi from 2012 to 2016 and was the head coach at Redlands Community College from 2008 to 2012. He started his coaching career as an assistant at Redlands in 2006-07, when the team went 31-2.

“Yaphett has a lot of experience in Oklahoma having played and coached at Redlands Community College and also having recruited the state while coaching at other schools,” Konkol said. “He has really deep contacts in the state of Oklahoma and Texas, as well as other places.

“Yaphett is also a tremendous coach. He served as interim coach at SMU for some games and was the head coach Redlands as well. More than all that, he’s a great person. I’m very excited that he and his family have joined us at Tulsa.”

King was an All-American as a freshman at Redlands in 2001-02 while helping the team win the NJCAA Division II national title. He went on to play at Cal State Fullerton, helping the Titans earn a post-season bid for the first time in 15 years.

King joins Desmond Haymon and Duffy Conroy as assistant coaches on Konkol’s TU Basketball coaching staff.