Fort Wayne Mad Ants
By dvance | January 11, 2021
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the NBA G League affiliate of the Indiana Pacers, announced Monday the hiring of Tom Hankins as their new head coach.
The 54-year-old Hankins brings vast coaching experience to Fort Wayne. He got started as a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State in 1991 after graduating from Northeastern State (OK) University in 1990. He next was an assistant coach at East Central High School in Tulsa, OK, for five years before going to Oral Roberts University as an assistant coach for 15 years, 12 of those as the top assistant. From 2012-2015 he was the associate head coach at Southern Illinois University and from 2015-2019 he was the head coach at the University of Central Oklahoma. Teams he was associated with had six 20-win seasons, three NCAA tournament appearances and two NIT appearances.
Sunday, January 10, 2021 11:43 pm
Pacers hire Hankins to coach Mad Ants
JUSTIN A. COHN | The Journal Gazette
Not unlike many basketball fans, Tom Hankins used to scoff a bit at some aspects of the G League product.
Not anymore.
“From a distance, I didn t realize just how good the players were until I was there on a daily basis,” said Hankins, who today will be announced by the NBA s Indiana Pacers as the head coach of the Mad Ants, their Fort Wayne-based G League team.
Hankins, 54, a longtime college coach, spent last season with the Pacers as an assistant coach for player development. Among his duties were working with Naz Mitrou-Long and Brian Bowen II, who spent much of the season with the Mad Ants under two-way NBA contracts.
Mad Ants Announce Tom Hankins as Head Coach nba.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nba.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
by: Reed Parker, Inside INdiana Business
Posted:
Jan 11, 2021 / 11:18 AM EST
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) The NBA G League and Indiana Pacers-affiliated Fort Wayne Mad Ants have announced the hiring of a new head coach just before beginning their 2021 season. Tom Hankins was hired by the Pacers in 2019 as assistant player development coach.
Hankins has also served as associate head coach at Southern Illinois University and as head coach at the University of Central Oklahoma from 2015-2019. He is the seventh head coach in Mad Ants history.
“This is a great opportunity and a privilege to be the Mad Ants’ head coach,” said Hankins. “I look forward to help develop players, but also having a team that represents the goals of the Pacers and Mad Ants on and off the floor.”