TU's Haith Announces Coaching Staff

New Tulsa coach Frank Haith has filled out his coaching staff.

Wednesday, April 23rd 2014, 4:21 pm

By: News On 6


The University of Tulsa Head Basketball Coach Frank Haith announced today the addition of assistant coaches Dave Leitao, Tom Abatemarco and Dennis Felton, and strength and conditioning coach Todor Pandov to his Golden Hurricane coaching staff.

Leitao, Abatemarco and Felton are all former collegiate head coaches and carry an abundance of NCAA postseason experience on their resumes. Together, they total more than 90 years coaching in college athletics. In a combined 27 years as head coaches, the group totaled 12 postseason appearances, including six NCAA Tournament appearances. Overall, the three coaches have been a part of 48 postseason appearances, including 31 trips to the NCAA Tournament and two NCAA titles.

"I am excited to have this group of coaches on board with us at Tulsa," Haith said. "Combined, they bring a wealth of experience at both the collegiate and professional levels. They have coached at the highest levels of college basketball and will provide great knowledge and experiences to share with our players."

Haith's familiarity with Leitao and Felton go back to when the trio coached against each other in the ACC, while Haith's relationship with Abatemarco spans more than 10 years as well.

"Each of these three men are quality people with tremendous basketball minds and have enjoyed many successes in the game," said Haith. "Todor has been with me six years and has been able to utilize his experiences as a player and translate that into the conditioning of our players to build their bodies for the game of basketball."

"We look forward to working together to carry on the rich basketball tradition at The University of Tulsa, and continuing to build a program that wins championships," added Haith.

Leitao and Pandov join Haith from the University of Missouri staff and were introduced last Friday at the press conference naming Haith as Tulsa's head coach.

Leitao, a former head coach at Northeastern (1994-96), DePaul (2002-05) and Virginia (2005-09), carries 29 years of college coaching experience. He spent the past two seasons at Missouri with Haith. In nine years as a head coach, he posted an overall 143-129 record and led his teams to six postseason appearances, including two NCAA Tournament trips. Leitao was the 2007 ACC Coach of the Year after leading Virginia to an 11-5 league mark and finishing with an overall 21-11 record.

Abatemarco brings more than 40 years of collegiate and professional coaching experience to Tulsa. He spent last year as an assistant coach at Loyola Marymount, and the previous three seasons on the Colorado coaching staff. He served head coaching stints, covering seven seasons, at Lamar (1986-88), Drake (1988-90) and Sacramento State (1997-2000).

Felton brings 24 years of collegiate coaching experience to the Golden Hurricane program, including 11 years as a head coach at Western Kentucky (1998-2003) and Georgia (2003-09). His teams won seven conference championships in those 11 years and reached the postseason six times. The 2002 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year coached in four NCAA Tournaments, made two NIT appearances and compiled an overall 187-154 head coaching record.

Pandov spent the last three years as the Director of Basketball Athletic Performance at Missouri following one season as the basketball strength and conditioning coach at Miami. He played four years of basketball at Western Kentucky for Felton.

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