HOUSTON — The Rice Owls are in search of a new head men's basketball coach after Athletic Director Tommy McClelland announced Thursday that the university is parting ways with Scott Pera after seven seasons. Assistant coach Van Green will take over the program as the search takes place.
During his tenure as head coach at Rice, Pera held a 96-127 record. During the team's first season in the American Athletic Conference in 2023, the Owls held an 11-21 overall record and a 5-13 conference record under his leadership. The university said Pera led the Owls to back-to-back postseason appearances in the 2022 and 2023 seasons for the first time since the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
"I appreciate the efforts of Scott and his staff and their dedication to their student-athletes, but over the course of this season, it became apparent to me that a change in leadership of our men's basketball team was needed for it to become a championship-caliber program," McClelland said.
Prior to taking over as head coach, Pera spent three years with the team as its associate head coach. Before that, a high school coaching career led him to the Arizona State coaching staff in 2006. He also coached at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 and 2015.
Rice said it will begin a nationwide search for its next coach immediately.
"President DesRoches and the Board of Trustees have shown a great desire for this program to take its place among the best in the AAC and agreed with my assessment that a coaching change was the appropriate step towards reaching that goal," McClelland said.
Meanwhile, the Rice Women's basketball team won the AAC tournament Wednesday with a 61-41 win over East Carolina. That guarantees the Owls a spot in the NCAA tournament.
