Head Coach Bobby Hurley announced that Greg Howell and Ty Larson will be joining the Arizona State program. Howell officially started earlier in the offseason, while Larson was a recent addition. Both bring a vast amount of experience in different roles throughout their careers, which will provide a tremendous boost to Coach Hurley's staff.
Howell is the Director of Recruiting and Player Personnel while Larson will serve as the Special Advisor to the Head Coach. They bolster an already decorated group of coaches that Coach Hurley has assembled in Tempe. The duo is joining a program that just secured its best recruiting class in program history and is generating buzz nationally. The level of optimism among Sun Devil fans is arguably unmatched heading into the 2024-25 season, as Arizona State features a talented and deep roster. Howell and Larson will each play an integral role in the day-to-day operations and direction of the program.
Greg Howell - Director of Recruiting and Player Personnel
Howell joined the staff back in June and has already made an impact in Tempe. He comes to Arizona State after being at Rice since 2020, serving as an Assistant Coach for the past three seasons. He crossed paths with a familiar name to Sun Devil fans on the 2021-22 Rice coaching staff, as he worked alongside ASU's all-time assists leader Derek Glasser. While at Rice, Howell helped the Owls to back-to-back postseason appearances for just the third time in school history and the first since 2004-05.
On the staff for former ASU assistant coach Scott Pera, Howell provided administrative and experiential assistance on the court. He was responsible for game-planning and preparing on both sides of the ball. He was also in charge of scouting and recruiting the California, Las Vegas, Texas and Arizona student-athlete prospects. Howell and the staff retained four-star recruit Keanu Dawes, beating out several power five schools for his signature.
In Howell's second season as an assistant, Rice led C-USA in assists, setting a school record with 533. With a win over UTSA in the Conference USA Tournament, he helped guide the Owls to wins in three straight conference tournaments for the first time since 1994-96. Under his tutelage, Max Fiedler and Quincy Olivari earned Second Team All-Conference USA honors, Travis Evee earned Honorable Mention for the second straight year, and Mekhi Mason was named to the All-Freshman Team. Olivari set the school record for career three-pointers made while Fiedler set the school and C-USA single-season record or field goal percentage.
Prior to Assistant Coach, Howell spent a year as the Video Coordinator, where he prepared all post-practice video for the coaches and team. Additionally, he prepared video on all upcoming opponents. He also worked on the floor during practice, working with the post players. His work helped Max Fiedler become one of the best big men in Conference USA, as he finished in the top ten in C-USA in rebounding, assists, assist-to-turnover ratio and double-doubles while setting a Rice record for single-season field goal percentage.
Before his time at Rice, Howell spent four years as Director and Head Coach of the Team Harden AAU basketball program, where he handled all administrative responsibilities while developing and implementing training programs for all teams. Prior to Team Harden, Howell served as a Marketing Associate and Scouting Assistant for the Houston Rockets. While with the Rockets, he assisted with online scouting future potential prospects while creating detailed reports on player's on-court performance.
Howell has close connections with legendary Sun Devil Men's Basketball player and current NBA star James Harden. The two played together at Artesia High School alongside former Sun Devil point guard Derek Glasser.
After playing basketball at Cerritos College he went on to attend Waldorf University, where he starred from 2010-12. At Waldorf he recorded 81 career steals, the sixth most in school history. Howell received his bachelor's degree in Business Marketing & Sports Management from Waldorf in 2012.
Ty Larson - Special Advisor to the Head Coach
Larson was recently added to the staff by Hurley after spending time at the University of Texas. He served as the Director of Recruiting last year and spent three total seasons with the Longhorns. Larson initially started as a graduate assistant, thriving in the role for two years, which led to him being elevated to Director of Recruiting in August 2023.
As the Director of Recruiting at Texas, Larson enjoyed a great run of success culminating in the No. 11 overall recruiting class in 2024. He was able to secure the signatures of several significant recruits, battling the nation's premier programs for elite prospects. During Larson's tenure with the Longhorns, Texas landed from the prep ranks class of 2023 four-star shooting guard Chris Johnson (No. 78 overall, No. 12 SG per 247 Sports) in addition to five-star guard Tre Johnson (No. 6 overall, No. 2 SG) and four-star forward Nicolas Codie (No. 81 overall, No 13 PF) in the class of 2024. Tre Johnson is the third-highest ranked recruit in the history of the Longhorn program, trailing only Kevin Durant (2006) and Mohammed Bamba (2017).
Larson also enjoyed success in the transfer portal while at Texas, adding several top talents through the transfer ranks over the last two recruiting cycles. This past offseason, the Longhorns added point guard Julian Larry and forward Jayson Kent from Indiana State, who led the Sycamores to 32 wins (2nd most in program history) and an NIT runner-up spot. Larson also helped recruit four-star transfers Tramon Mark (Arkansas) and Jordan Pope (Oregon State), both of whom led their teams in scoring last year. The final addition of the past offseason was Kansas State/Creighton transfer Arthur Kaluma.
During Larson's three seasons in Austin, the Longhorns went 74-34 (685.) overall. They made three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2023. Larson was on the staff that led Texas to the 2023 Big 12 Tournament title. He worked with several highly-regarded coaches while with the Longhorns, including Rodney Terry, Chris Beard, Frank Haith, and current ASU assistant coach Jerrance Howard.
Prior to his time at Texas, Larson spent two years (2019-21) as a student assistant at Texas Tech. In the 2020-21 season, the Red Raiders posted an 18-11 mark and advanced ot the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 after defeating Utah State. Texas Tech was ranked in the AP Top 25 throughout the entire season for the first time in program history, reaching as high as No. 7 in the polls in February.
Before starting his coaching career, Larson played for two seasons (2017-19) at Eastern Wyoming College (Torrington, Wyo.). He served as team captain both years and went on to earn his associate's degree in Science from Eastern Wyoming Colege in 2019.
A native of Douglas, Wyo., Larson was an all-state performer in both basketball and football at Douglas High School. On the court, he was a two-time all-state and three-time all-conference selection and twice.
How to Follow
Follow Greg Howell on X (@Ghowell11) and Instagram (@ghowell11).
Follow Ty Larson on X (@TyLarson0) and Instagram (@ty_larson307).
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