Tyler Nunez

McNeese State wasted little time in finding a new head basketball coach.

There were only 11 days between the announcement that Dave Simmons would not be returning to the program and the announcement that BYU assistant Heath Schroyer would take the helm in the 2018-19 season.

It was probably a pretty good day for Schroyer as well, as the announcement came on his 46th birthday, and what better way to celebrate than with the announcement of a new job.

The quick hire is a pretty clear indicator that Schroyer was on high on McNeese’s list of candidates in a search that was kept very close to the vest by assistant athletic director and search chair Tanner Stines and Athletics Director Bruce Hemphill.

The hire may have come as a bit of surprise as the only thing linking Schroyer to McNeese was a short stint as head coach at Wyoming, where Hemphill was an assistant AD.

He has no ties to the region for recruiting. The closest place he has spent time coaching was two years at Tennessee-Martin.

He has also never stayed with a program for more than four seasons at a time. That’s not necessarily a red flag or a black mark on his résumé, but it’s definitely something that should be remembered. And he’s leaving behind a good six-figure paycheck knowing McNeese can’t match that salary.

We’ll have to wait until Monday’s news conference to get a lot of these questions addressed because both sides have taken a vow of silence until then.

But of all the candidates who emerged as contenders, Schroyer by far brought the most experience to the table.

His nine years as a head coach with moderate success make this a safe pick, and one that should assure the program doesn’t tank as it opens a new arena this year.

So what does he bring to the table?

For starters, expect him to have some junior college guys in his pocket ready to come to Lake Charles and play for him. He has some great recruiting ties in the Midwest thanks to his time at UNLV, Wyoming and Brigham Young, and it would be unlikely for him not to tap into that, especially while he learns the region.

While at UNLV from 2011-2014, Schroyer was named as one of the nation’s top  15 assistants twice in three season after helping the Rebels land four McDonald’s All-Americans, including Anthony Bennett, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft.

He also has shown the ability to build a program from scratch. In his first season at Portland State, the Vikings went 5-22 and won just three games to finish eight in the Big Sky Conference.

In his second season, the Vikings improved to 11-16 overall and 5-9, once again finishing eighth in league play, but with vast improvements.

In his third and final year with Portland State, he lead the Vikings to a 19-9 record and the 2005 Big Sky regular-season championship, the first title for any men’s program in school history.

His second stint as head coach of Wyoming (again, where he met Hemphill), didn’t go as swimmingly. After accumulating a 49-68 record, Wyoming fired him in the middle of the 2010-11 season with A.D. Tom Burman saying it had become clear change was necessary.

But he has thrived since then, leading UT-Martin to back-to-back 20-win seasons and serving as a top assistant at such programs as UNLV, North Carolina State and BYU

According to reports from Provo, Utah, Schroyer brought accountability to BYU’s defense and also called much of the offense as the lead associate head coach under head coach Dave Rose.

The Cougars had a respectable year, going 24-11 and earning a National Invitation Tournament bid. The Cougars lost their first-round game 86-83 to Stanford.

So, no, this isn’t the most exciting hire in the world. It’s not an up-and-coming assistant like Wichita State’s Isaac Brown or a guy with proven success at lower levels like LSU-Alexandria’s Larry Cordaro.

But if the goal is for the Cowboys to compete in the Southland Conference and bring some life to a program that has struggled to draw significant crowds for decades now, Schroyer just might be the right person for the job.

Tyler Nunez covers McNeese State athletics. Email him at tnunez@americanpress.comHeath SchroyerAssociated Press