Portland State men's basketball has hired Jase Coburn as assistant coach. Coburn comes to the Park Blocks with nine years of coaching experience, most recently as an assistant at Howard Junior College in Texas.
"Jase is young, enthusiastic, energetic and brings something different to the table as far as recruiting goes," said Viking Head Coach Tyler Geving. "He has great connections with Arizona high schools and Texas junior colleges. He should be able to open a new market for us in recruiting.
"He has been a high school head coach and won a state championship at a young age. Anytime you can get a head coach with experience at any level it helps your program. He has shown his dedication to the game and his desire to be a future college head coach."
Coburn was part of a program at Howard that was 53-14 over the past two seasons. Howard, the NJCAA Region 5 Champion, reached the NJCAA National Tournament final eight this past season. Howard has been a top-10 ranked program for the past two seasons.
"I felt this was a really good opportunity," said Coburn. "I like Coach Geving and have known (assistant coach) Anthony Owens for a long time. This was a great chance to be a Division I coach."
Prior to working at Howard JC, Coburn was the Head Coach at McClintock High School in Tempe, AZ from 2007 to 2011. At 23, he was one of the youngest head coaches ever to be hired in Arizona, and by 26 had led the team to a state title. Coburn's 2009-10 team won the 4A state championship, and two other times his teams reached the quarterfinals. He was the consensus Arizona 4A Coach of the Year in 2009-10. Overall, his teams compiled a 74-39 record.
Coburn was an assistant coach at Phoenix College from 2005 to 2007 when the team twice reached the national tournament. He spent one season as an assistant coach at Corona del Sol (AZ) HS in 2004-05. He has also coached AAU basketball (Arizona Rage, 2003-07; and Compton Magic, 2011) and worked numerous camps and clinics over the years.
A native of Mesa, AZ, Coburn played basketball at Mesquite High School and MiraCosta College. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education-History from Arizona State (2006).
THE JASE COBURN FILE
1st year at Portland State
Hometown: Mesa, AZ
Alma Mater: Arizona State, 2006, Secondary Education-History
Playing Career: MiraCosta College, 2002-04
Date of Birth: September 16, 1983
COACHING EXPERIENCE
2011-13 Howard (TX) JC, Assistant Coach
2007-11 McClintock HS, Head Coach
2005-07 Phoenix JC, Assistant Coach
2004-05 Corona del Sol HS, Assistant Coach
