First-year men’s basketball head coach Jared Fleming BS’09, MS’10 is no stranger to The University of Texas at Dallas court. With more than 12 years of experience in the program, first as a standout player and then as an assistant coach, he was ready to take his shot at leading the team last summer.
This season, Fleming has guided the Comets to a 16-8 record, including 12-3 in the American Southwest Conference (ASC), through Feb. 15. UTD will begin postseason play in the ASC Tournament, which starts Feb. 20.
“We have a great athletic program with a proud tradition of success,” Fleming said. “Our kids are high-level athletes, and they’re also high-level students. Our guys play and excel in the classroom, and that’s unique among most colleges. It’s special.”
As a player, Fleming was a point guard on UTD teams that made it to the NCAA Division III tournament’s Elite Eight in 2009 and the Sweet 16 in 2010. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Naveen Jindal School of Management, he then worked as a graduate assistant coach for Terry Butterfield while earning a master’s degree in finance. Then as an assistant coach, Fleming helped lead the Comets to the 2019 ASC championship and two trips to the NCAA Tournament.
“When you get to that point and you’re playing against the best teams in the country, you realize your team deserves to be there,” he said. “Honestly, to compete at that level makes you hungry for more.”
Fleming studied finance because, at the time, he was interested in working in the business of sports and hoped to one day become a general manager of a team. After graduating in 2010, he worked for a minor-league baseball team as director of ticket operations. But working in the front office left him wanting more.
“I realized that I missed the emotional investment in what was happening on the field,” Fleming said. “I couldn’t even watch games. You’re too busy. It’s like, ‘Oh, did we win?’ I decided I didn’t want to sit in an office.”
Comet Postseason Tournaments
Follow the men’s and women’s basketball teams as they vie for American Southwest Conference championships starting Feb. 20. Pairings, live stats and results will be available on the men’s tournament and women’s tournament websites.
Fleming spent three years as an assistant coach at Franklin College in Indiana and then returned to Texas in 2014 as an assistant coach at Schreiner University in Kerrville. An opportunity to return to UT Dallas opened up in 2015.
Fleming said Butterfield — who won 553 games before retiring last year after 23 seasons at UTD — has been his most influential mentor next to his dad, who coached him in high school.
“He gave me so much good advice over the eight years I worked for him,” Fleming said. “He told me that coaching is all about people — that great coaches can elevate teams and bad coaches bring them down. It’s all about having good people in your program who are committed.”
After a quarter-century in Division III, UTD recently initiated its transition to Division II by accepting an invitation to join the Lone Star Conference. By moving to Division II, the Comets would be able to offer scholarships to players. Recruiting would change, but “basketball is basketball,” Fleming said.
“If you’re coming here just to play basketball, we’re not the right place for you,” he said. “You need to come here knowing that you’re going to get an unbelievable education that’s going to open doors for you for the rest of your life. And at the same time, you get to play basketball.”