PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Prairie View A&M men’s basketball program recently added Ansar Al-Ameen to the coaching staff as an assistant coach. Al-Ameen joins the Panthers after spending the past two seasons at Texas Southern University.
Al-Ameen replaces associate head coach Talvin Hester who has accepted a position on the staff at San Jose State University of the Western Athletic Conference.
“Coach Al-Ameen is a great addition to the Prairie View A&M men’s basketball staff,” said head coach Byron Rimm II. “His skill and development of basketball players are second-to-none. He has worked out the likes of (NBA Superstars) LeBron James, Shareef Abdur-Raheem, Carmelo Anthony, Shawn Marion and Paul Pierce. We’re very happy and excited to have him in our program.”
A native of the state of California, Al-Ameen arrives at Prairie View A&M after spending the past two seasons at conference rival Texas Southern. While at TSU, Al-Ameen helped guide the Tigers to the finals of the SWAC Men’s Basketball Tournament in only his second season on the staff in addition to posting a winning record for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign. TSU also had the 12th-best turnaround record in the nation this past season as the Tigers went from 7-25 in 2008-09 to 17-16 in 2009-10 with four players earning All-SWAC Honors.
Known as a highly regarded basketball workout trainer among NBA players and across the world, Al-Ameen was summoned to develop and workout 7-5 Iranian center Jaber Rouzbahani in anticipation of the 2004 NBA Draft in addition to several other Iranian athletes who went on to represent their country in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
Prior to his stint overseas, Al-Ameen spent two years at the University of Missouri under former head coach Quin Snyder as the team’s player development coach. Al-Ameen worked extensively with Missouri’s individual workouts and coordinated the team’s conditioning. Using Al-Ameen’s methods, Missouri reached the NCAA Tournament twice including an Elite Eight Appearance in 2002. In addition, Al-Ameen helped former MU standout Kareem Rush record two individual season scoring records and become an All-American and Wooden Award candidate en route to being drafted by the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.
Al-Ameen received his first opportunity to coach on the collegiate level at Fresno State University in 1997 after making an impression during the team’s summer camps. Working under basketball legend Jerry “The Shark” Tarkanian, Al-Ameen helped the Bulldogs earn two NIT appearances and one NCAA Tournament showing. Al-Ameen is credited with turning former Fresno State star Courtney Alexander into an NBA lottery pick after becoming the first Fresno State and WAC player to lead the NCAA in scoring in 2000.
His career began on the AAU level with the nationally renowned Oakland Soldiers program in Northern California which is regarded as one of the top AAU programs in the nation. As a member of the organization, Al-Ameen has worked with players such as Leon Powe, Drew Gooden, Chuck Hayes and LeBron James.
Upon graduating from high school, Al-Ameen enlisted with the United States Air Force and was stationed at Beale Air Force Base in Marysville, Calif., where he served until 1996. He has also spent time on the high school level as a coach at Kennedy High School in Richmond, Calif.
Al-Ameen holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Fresno State. He and his wife Kendra, have one daughter (Breeze, 9).
I have known Ansar for about 13 years and I can attest to his acumen and professionalism. Many years ago my son, Vincent Yarbrough, was playing for the University of Tennessee. During the summer between his Freshman and Sophomore seasons he began working out with Ansar. As a parent, I had the chance to observe a master exercising his craft with my child. Ansar was immediately able to discern which areas of my sons game needed refinement, and more importantly, to relate to my son in a manner that motivated him like I’d never seen before. During those summer months my son worked out with Ansar and future NBA stars like Drew Gooden, Leon Powe and Shareef Abdur-Raheem. During leisure time, when my son and his friends would go out to clubs and such, Ansar would accompany them. I had total confidence that with Ansar there, there would be no bad behavior because of the respect the kids afforded him. Although I am the first to leave a comment regarding Coach Al-Ameen on this thread, feel free to contact me should you have any need to discuss his abilities or character. He has my highest recommendation.