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emarkable 2004 season was ended by a 102-100 loss to UAB inthe first round of the NCAA Tournament.His inaugural Washington campaign concluded with a 10-17 record.UW placed ninth in the Pac-10 with a 5-13 mark. The youngHusky roster included only one senior and six freshmen. He wasnamed to head up the program at his alma mater on April 3, 2002.A point guard for the Huskies’ 1978-79 and 1979-80 teams, Romaris the 18th head coach in Washington’s 103-year history. He is thefirst African-American coach to lead the Washington basketballprogram.The 2012-13 year will be Romar’s 17th year as an NCAA headcoach. He has compiled a 312-201 record in that span. He tallied a42-44 mark in three years at Pepperdine and a 51-44 record in threeyears at St. Louis before returning to his alma mater. Washington isRomar’s third stint as a head college coach. During three-year tenuresat Pepperdine (1997-1999) and Saint Louis (2000-2002), hegained a reputation as a hard-working coach admired for integrityand dedication. At both Pepperdine and Saint Louis, Romar helpedto revive programs to a competitive level. He led the Waves to apair of second-place finishes in the West Coast Conference and anNIT invitation in 1999. During his first season at SLU, the Billikensupset No. 1 Cincinnati in the second round of the ConferenceUSA tournament and went on to win the championship and theleague’s automatic berth into the NCAAs. During each of his finaltwo seasons at Saint Louis, his teams defeated Washington. TheBillikens beat UW 69-61 on Dec. 5, 2000 in Seattle and 71-70 onDec. 29, 2001 in St. Louis.Seattle was the site of one of Romar’s great coaching moments.As an assistant coach, he helped UCLA to an 89-78 triumph overArkansas in the Kingdome to win the 1995 NCAA Championship.Cameron Dollar, an assistant coach on Romar’s Saint Louis andWashington staffs, was one of the stars for the Bruins during thatnational title contest. Romar built a reputation at UCLA (1992-96)as one of the nation’s top recruiters and was credited with recruitingmuch of the talent that formed the core of the Bruins’ title team.In three years at Saint Louis, Romar compiled a 51-44 (.537) record,including wins over nine different conference champions.His 51 wins rank No. 7 among all-time SLU coaches and is thefourth-best three-year total in the school’s history. Romar wasnamed head basketball coach at Saint Louis on March 26, 1999.In his inaugural season at the school, Romar guided the Billikensto a 19-14 record that marked the third best debut season-record inSaint Louis annals.His basketball life has been marked by success at every levelbeginning with his playing career from high school to the NBAthrough his coaching career. He continued that success with a notablerun of firsts in his initial season at Saint Louis. In directingthe Billikens to the Conference USA Tournament title and an automaticinvitation to the NCAA Tournament, Romar became thefirst Saint Louis coach to accomplish either feat in his debut season.The 1999-2000 season marked many other notable firsts aswell. Romar became the first coach in history to lead SLU into theNCAA Tournament in his debut season after winning the school’sfirst conference tournament title. Saint Louis upset a No. 1 team,Cincinnati, for the first time since the 1952. The 2000-01 SLUsquad posted a 17-14 record and became the first team in ConferenceUSA history to defeat perennial power Cincinnati in back-tobackgames. The Billikens finished with a 15-16 record in 2001-02against a difficult schedule that included 14 games against teamsthat qualified for the postseason.Prior to coaching at Saint Louis, Romar amassed a three-year recordof 42-44 (.488) at Pepperdine, including 36 wins in his finaltwo seasons with the Waves. He took control of the Waves’ programin February 1996 and quickly established himself as a toprecruiter, bringing in talent that would guide the Waves to a postseasonappearance in 1999. In his second year, Romar staged asignificant 11-game improvement over the previous season to finishwith a 17-10 record and earn a second-place finish in the WestCoast Conference, just one game behind champion Gonzaga. Pepperdinewas the second-most improved NCAA Division I team inin 1997-98, trailing only Connecticut. In his final season at theschool, Romar guided Pepperdine to a 19-13 record and a bid tothe NIT, the Waves’ first postseason appearance in five years. Theseason after his departure, Pepperdine earned an NCAA Tournamentberth with the majority of players Romar recruited. One ofthose players was Brandon Armstrong who was the 23rd selectionoverall in the 2001 NBA Draft.Prior to his stint at Pepperdine, Romar was the top assistant underJim Harrick at UCLA from 1992-1996. He recruited such talentas Toby Bailey, Cameron Dollar, J.R. Henderson, Kris Johnson,Jelani McCoy and Charles O’Bannon. That recruiting bonanzahelped lead the Bruins to back-to-back Pac-10 championships in1995 and 1996. UCLA registered a 31-2 record in 1995 and wonthe NCAA crown. UCLA’s record during Romar’s four-year assistantcoaching tenure was a stunning 97-28 (.776).Romar is well respected among his peers as his selection as thehead coach for the U.S. under-18 national team can attest. He ledthe U.S. juniors, including Husky Spencer Hawes, to a gold medalat the 2006 FIBA Americas championship. He served as an assistantto head coach Tom Izzo on the 2003 USA Basketball PanAmerican Games staff.A native of Compton, Calif., Romar graduated from Pius X HighSchool. He earned his associate degree from Cerritos (Calif.) CommunityCollege in 1978 before studying at UW from 1978-80. Hecompleted his coursework at Cincinnati, receiving his bachelor’sdegree in criminal justice in 1992. During his sophomore year atCerritos, Romar led the Falcons to a 23-8 record, averaged 14.1points per game, set the school record for single-season assistsand earned first-team all-league honors.He transferred to Washington in 1978 and played two seasons forlegendary Husky head coach Marv Harshman. Romar was a twoyearstarter for the Huskies on the 1978-79 and 1979-80 teams.Romar played all 27 games, starting seven times for the 1978-79UW squad that finished with an 11-16 record and a 6-12 mark inPac-10 play. He averaged 6.0 points and 1.4 rebounds during hisjunior season while posting team-leading totals of 80 assists andCOACHES2012-13 Husky Basketball 37