A special thank you goes to Visions Federal Credit Union for partnering with us to provide the greater Cortland County community with additional sports coverage
SUNY Cortland Men's Basketball Head Coach Tom Spanbauer is set to retire after 28 years. (Photo taken by Darl Zehr Photography/Photo provided by SUNY Cortland).
Longtime SUNY Cortland men’s basketball head coach Tom Spanbauer is set to retire after 28 years at the helm of the program.
Spanbauer’s Red Dragons’ squads of the past have won 16-or-more games in 19 different seasons, including a 19-8 mark for the 2022-23 campaign.
His coaching resume with the Red Dragons includes being a six-time SUNYAC Coach of the Year, a four-time National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) East Region Coach of the Year, and a nod three times for New York State Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year.
Spanbauer has taken the Red Dragons to the NCAA Division III Tournament a total of four times. This includes back-to-back Sweet 16 bids in 1999 and 2000, and a couple of appearances in the second round in 2013 and 2016.
Aside from his accomplishments as a coach, Spanbauer performed well as a player for the SUNY Cortland men’s basketball squad. Playing for the Red Dragons from 1979 to 1983, Spanbauer finished with 1,106 career points, good for 18th overall on the program’s all-time career scoring list.
Spanbauer was also a two-time team captain and an All-SUNYAC nod twice. He graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, and received his master’s degree in 1986.
Along with his head-coaching duties for men’s basketball, Spanbauer is also a professor in the physical education department and the head coach of the women’s tennis program at SUNY Cortland.
Below is an exclusive interview with Spanbauer:
A special thank you goes to Visions Federal Credit Union for partnering with us to provide the greater Cortland County community with additional sports coverage
