ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY

ATHLETICS 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 5, 2009
Contact: Ben Greenberg, SID (479) 968-0645

MEN'S BASKETBALL NAMES DOUG KARLESKINT AS ITS NEW ASSISTANT COACH

        RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Arkansas Tech Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mark Downey announced the addition of Doug Karleskint to his staff as an assistant coach on Wednesday.

Karleskint replaces Kurt Young, who resigned recently to accept an assistant coaching position at Northern Kentucky University. Young had spent the past three seasons with Downey at Tech.

“The Arkansas Tech Men’s Basketball program got a steal with the hiring of Doug Karleskint,” Downey said. “We hated to lose Kurt (Young) and we wish him the best, but Doug will do a fabulous job. I am excited about his new ideas and the new season ahead.”

Karleskint, who will join a Tech staff that also includes assistant coach Wes Corkins, comes to Tech after spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach on the staff of Danny Kasper at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. In his two seasons with the Lumberjacks, Karleskint helped SFA to a 50-14 record and the back-to-back regular season Southland Conference championships, including posting a 24-8 record in 2008-09. In addition, the Lumberjacks won the Southland Conference Tournament this past season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, while in 2007-08, SFA played in the NIT (National Invitational Tournament) and finished with a 26-6 overall record. While at SFA, he was responsible for recruiting, game preparation, on-court instruction, organizing team travel, coordinating all film exchange, monitoring academic progress of student-athletes and serving as the Co-Director of the Danny Kasper Summer Basketball Camps.  

“Doug is a great recruiter, a tireless worker and know nothing but winning,” the fourth-year Tech coach said. “While working on every level in his young career, Doug has been on coaching staffs that have averaged 25 wins a season over the past five years and have made four national tournament appearances.”

Prior to joining SFA, Karleskint served as a graduate assistant coach for two seasons (2005-07) on Coach Steve Tappmeyer’s staff at Northwest Missouri State. While at Northwest Missouri, Karleskint was involved with recruiting, on-court instruction and assisted with the team’s academic mentoring program and helped the Bearcats post back-to-back 20-win campaigns and a Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular season title in 2007.  

Before beginning his two-year stint at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Mo., Karleskint spent the 2003-04 season as an assistant at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kan., and then spent the 2004-05 season as an assistant coach on Happy Osborne’s staff at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kent.

          While at Fort Scott, Karleskint, who played both basketball and baseball at Fort Scott in 1999-00, served as the team’s recruiting coordinator, along with implementing and supervising the team’s academic monitoring program. Under the program, each Fort Scott player on the team earned at least 2.5 grade point average. In his one season at Georgetown, he was in charge of high school recruiting in Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Georgetown finished the 2004-05 season with a 29-6 record and a No. 3 national ranking in the final NAIA Division I poll.

          “As I have said many times before, a head coach is only as good as his staff,” Downey added.

          Karleskint, a native of Fort Scott, Kan., has finished his master’s degree in education with an emphasis on athletic administration from Northwest Missouri State and will graduate in December, 2009. He earned his bachelor's degree in sports management in 2003 from MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan. He is married to the former Kyla Boots and the couple has a one-year old son, Jadin.  

-- Tech Athletics --