Bobby Howard

Bobby Howard was hired as the Alaska men's basketball assistant coach in August of 2014 and enters his fourth season on Mick Durham's coaching staff.

Howard assisted the Nanooks through a through a storybook 2015-16 campaign, as the team posted the second-most wins in program history, as well as set the school record for most Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season wins. Alaska went 22-8 and 15-5 in GNAC play to finish the regular season in second place. It was the highest GNAC regular season finish for the Nooks since their first-place finish in 2004-05. The team also made it's first-ever appearance in the GNAC championship game, where they fell short to No. 1-seed Western Oregon, 78-71.

The assistant coach played a huge role in the development of two-time All-GNAC honorable mention selection Almir Hadzisehovic, who averaged 12.6 points and shot 62.2 percent from the field during the 2015-16 campaign. Howard was also key in the development of Travante Williams, who earned National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) NCAA Division II All-West Regional second team selection, and was named to the All-GNAC first team. Howard was also influential in the recruitment and development of fellow double digit scorer, Bangaly Kaba (12.2 ppg/6.2 rpg).

Howard primarily coaches the post players, and in his first season, he helped develop Almir Hadzisehovic into an All-GNAC honorable mention selection.

A 2011 graduate of Montana State, Howard spent the last two seasons in assistant role capacities at the University of Montana Western (2013-14) and Minot State (2012-13) out of North Dakota. Prior to the start of his coaching career, Howard had a short stint playing for CSU Sibiu in 2011-12, a Romanian professional basketball team in the Romanian Basketball Division A.
 
The Great Falls, Mont., native played four seasons of Division I basketball at Montana State (2007-11), which is also the alma mater of Durham, who graduated there in 1980. He was a two-time All-Big Sky Conference honoree, landing First Team honors as a junior in 2009-10 and Second Team accolades as a senior in 2010-11.
 
He finished his career as the 11th-leading scoring in the history of MSU basketball with 1,366 points while also ranking sixth on the program's all-time list in 3-pointers made with 160.
 
Howard played in 119 games as a Bobcat, making 82 starts as he averaged 11.5 points per game for his career, including 14.8 points per game as a senior and 14.3 points per outing as a junior. He also brought down 5.1 rebounds per game over his four years, including a single-season best average of 7.2 boards as a senior.
 
He helped the Bobcats to a third-place in the Big Sky Conference standings during his junior year in 2009-10 as they were 10-6 in league play and 15-14 overall. Howard was also a member of the 2008-09 team that upset its way as the six seed all the way to the Big Sky championship game.
 
"Bobby was an excellent high school player and continued on to have an outstanding career in Division I at Montana State," Durham said. "He brings great playing experience at a high level into his assistant coaching position. Bobby will be responsible for developing our inside players along with having recruiting duties in the northwest."
 
"My interest level [for the job] was peaked because of Mick," Howard said. "Anytime Mick calls, I always listen. He had an opportunity for me to coach with him. The league is a very good league and it's a chance to build off the success he's had the last two years. I know we have a brand-new team coming in and I'm excited to get up there to get to work, meet the guys, meet the whole entire community and put a product out there that everyone can be proud of."
 
Howard replaces former assistant Jon Clift, who resigned after two seasons to pursue other professional back in his home state of Washington.
 
"We really appreciate the two years Jon devoted to our program and all that he helped us accomplish," Durham said. "He helped develop the culture we want in our basketball program which is quality character decisions both on and off the court. That's who he is and what we want our players to see every day. We wish Jon the best in his pursuits."
 
Alaska is coming off an 18-10 season and finished third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with a 12-6 mark. The Nanooks advanced to the conference semifinals for the second straight season and three outgoing seniors were named to the All-Conference squads, including forward Andrew Kelly (Gilbert, Ariz./Justice), who garnered GNAC Defensive Player of the Year laurels. The top returner and lone starter back for this season is senior guard Joe Slocum (San Francisco, Calif./Communication), who averaged 10.4 points while leading the team with 4.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game.