Ronnie Lee Arrow (born August 28, 1947) is an American college basketball coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of South Alabama.
Playing career
Arrow was a two-year All-Lone Star Conference honoree and a three-year letterman at Southwest Texas State (presently named Texas State). He graduated with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education in 1969.
Coaching career
San Jacinto
Arrow served as head coach at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas from 1977 to 1987 where he tallied a record of 302–43 and guided the Ravens to 10 Texas Junior College Athletic Conference titles as well as NJCAA championships in 1983, 1984 and 1986. He was named the NJCAA Region XIV Coach-of-the-Year in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987 and the national Coach-of-the-Year in 1983 and 1986. His 1985–86 squad led the nation in scoring, averaging 101 points per game.
South Alabama
Arrow was named head coach of the Jaguars on July 1, 1987 and in his seven seasons as the Jaguars coach, Arrow compiled a record of 114–93.
Arrow was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 1989 after guiding the Jaguars to both the regular and post-season tournament SunBelt titles.
South Alabama finished with a 23–9 mark, a first round NCAA Tournament victory over cross-state rival Alabama before falling 91–82 to the eventual national champion Michigan in the second round. The Jags finished the season ranked 24th in the country.
Following the 1990–1991 season, Arrow was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach-of-the-Year for the second time after engineering the most dramatic turnaround in league history. That year, his Jaguars became the first SunBelt squad ever to leap from last to first place in a single season. Projected to finish fifth in the conference, South Alabama went on to capture the league crown with an 11–3 mark.
The Jags finished the season with a 22–9 record, swept through the Sun Belt Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament before falling to Utah in the first-round.
Over the years, Arrow developed a reputation in the collegiate basketball circles for up-tempo, high-scoring teams. His squads led the Sun Belt Conference in scoring four of his seven seasons at South Alabama. His 1988–89 squad set a school and league record 91 points per game average and five of his seven teams tallied at least 80 points per game.
Arrow was dismissed by then university president Frederick Whiddon in the fall of 1994 after beginning that season 1–3 and suffering losses in his final two games by 68 and 46 points.
Junior World Cup Team
In the summer of 1989, Arrow coached the United States Junior World Cup Team to a perfect 7–0 record and the gold medal at the Pan-American Basketball Confederation (COPABA) Junior World Championship in Uruguay.
Among his players were future NBA stars Grant Hill, Calbert Cheaney and Allan Houston.
Texas A&M–Corpus Christi
Arrow is the first basketball coach at TAMCC and started the program as a Division I school after it had gone 25 years without a basketball program. He got the job thanks to a recommendation from Tim Floyd.
Arrow began the Islanders program in July 1998. Arrow guided A&M–Corpus Christi to an impressive 13–13 mark in year one of the project. The Islanders, winners of five-consecutive games to close the season, turned some heads early with their 76–74 upset of 2000 NCAA-Tournament qualifier, Samford in the first round of the Holiday Tribune Classic. A&M-Corpus Christi even took its cracks at "Goliath" as well. In the finals of the Holiday Tribune Classic, the Islanders were tied 34–34 with Iowa State, the eventual champion of the Big 12 Conference and a team that advanced to the Elite Eight.
Arrow put Texas A&M–Corpus Christi on the national map in 2003 when they were ranked in the top-25 Mid-Major Poll nearly the entire season last year and even received votes in the ESPN/USA Today Top-25 Coaches Poll during the 2004–2005 season.
His Islanders got immediate attention when they took down Florida State, 70–67 on the Seminoles home court on Nov 22, 2004, then followed that up with an upset win over Old Dominion, handing the Monarchs one of their five losses in the regular season.
During his tenure, Arrow led the Islanders to wins over such programs as Texas Tech and Texas A&M, as well as 2004 NCAA Tournament-qualifier Murray State.