HEADCOACHDAVEBALZA BIO
The first and only coach in FGCU men’s basketball history, Dave Balza is in his ninth season at the helm of the program. In May 2001, Balza was selected from over 200 candidates to be the program's first men's basketball head coach. Balza's teams are renowned for playing an exciting, up-tempo, hard-nosed basketball. His FGCU teams have posted a combined 143-101 record (.586 winning percentage) over the first eight years of competition. In 2007-08, Balza led the Eagles into their first season at the Division I level as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Since then, Balza and his staff have landed back-to-back recruiting classes ranked in the top three in the A-Sun by Hoop Scoop Online. This year’s incoming class of eight players ranked second in the league. Balza’s eye for talent at the Division I level has started to come to fruition, as the Eagles have landed a player on the A-Sun All-Freshmen team the last two years. In
2008-09, Reggie Chambers became the first FGCU player to ever make the rookie squad, while Anthony Banks was unanimous choice last year. Banks’ abilities also earned praise from the league coaches this past October when he became the first player in program history named to the A-Sun Preseason All-Conference team. FGCU has been competitive over its first three years in Division I, producing a 29-62 record heading into its fourth and final transition year in 2010-11. Arguably, the biggest win in the brief three-year Division I history of the program came in 2009-10 when FGCU defeated BIG EAST foe DePaul, 64-61, at Alico Arena for its first-ever win over a BCS school. Balza and the Eagles will be eligible for postseason play in 2010-11. Hired a year before the program started, Balza led FGCU to a 114-39 record over its five seasons in Division II (2002-07). Over those five campaigns, the Eagles produced four 20-win seasons, highlighted by a 27-6 mark in their final year (2006-07) before entering Division I. Three of the team’s six losses that year came to Division I com-
BALZA'S RECORD VERSUS ...
Arizona State.................................0-1 Army...............................................1-1 Austin Peay....................................0-1 Belmont.........................................2-3 Bethune-Cookman.......................1-1 Bradley...........................................0-2 Campbell.......................................2-3 Butler.............................................0-3 UCF................................................0-1 DePaul...........................................1-1 Drexel............................................0-2 Eastern Illinois...............................1-0 ETSU..............................................1-4 FAU................................................1-1 Florida............................................0-1
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FIU.................................................2-0 Gardner-Webb.............................1-0 Grambling.....................................1-0 Indiana...........................................0-1 Iowa...............................................0-1 IPFW..............................................1-0 IUPUI..............................................0-1 Jacksonville...................................0-6 Kansas...........................................0-1 Kennesaw State............................2-4 Lipscomb......................................1-4 Longwood.....................................0-1 Marquette.....................................0-1 UMES.............................................1-0 Mercer...........................................1-4
GAME4 - FGCU
AT
Miami (FL)......................................0-1 Michigan........................................0-1 Michigan State..............................0-1 UMKC............................................0-1 N.C. Central..................................2-0 North Dakota................................0-1 North Dakota State......................0-1 UNF................................................3-3 Penn...............................................1-1 Prairie View A&M..........................0-1 Richmond......................................0-1 SMU...............................................0-1 USC Upstate..................................3-2 Southeast Missouri.......................1-0 Stetson...........................................2-4
ARKANSAS (NOV. 22)