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Mizzou Confirms Steve Shields As Special Assistant To Kim Anderson

By Sam Snelling
@MizzouHoops

Former Arkansas-Little Rock head coach Steve Shields has officially been added as an assistant coach at Missouri.

As soon as Tim Fuller departed, Kim Anderson talked about adding division one experience to the coaching staff. Shields has that experience, albeit at a lower level in UALR. Shields will not be a recruiter, the Special Assistant role is somebody who can be on the bench, but has limited coaching abilities, particularly in the offseason. Some of his responsibilities will include some of the things that are sometimes assigned to the Director of Basketball Operations, which is a role that Missouri has not officially announced yet, but many assume will end up being Paul Rorvig who is currently the Director of Student-Athlete Development.

Here is the press release:

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Men's Basketball has added former Arkansas-Little Rock head coach Steve Shields to its staff as special assistant to the head coach, Kim Anderson announced Thursday. The winningest coach in UALR history, Shields led the Trojans to the 2011 NCAA Tournament and helped the program win five Sun Belt Conference divisional titles during his 12 years as head coach.

"We are incredibly excited to add Steve to our Mizzou Men's Basketball family," Anderson said. "I have known Steve since my days at Baylor University when his father was the golf coach. I have closely followed his career since then, and I was always impressed with the way his teams played at Arkansas-Little Rock. He brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to our program. We welcome Steve, Kendra, and their children to our program."

Highly experienced in the day-to-day operation of a Division I men's basketball program, Shields spent 15 seasons overall at UALR. He moved up to lead the program after three seasons (2000-03) as an assistant coach. Shields helped the Trojans snap a 21-year NCAA Tournament drought by guiding the squad to the 2011 Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship.

Shields will assist with non-coaching duties that relate to the program's management. Among his many duties, Shields will monitor and track Mizzou's recruiting efforts, oversee the program's budget, help scout future Tiger opponents and assist in coordinating Mizzou's academic advancement and community involvement. Shields will also oversee special projects as assigned by Anderson.

"I'm extremely excited to be joining Kim's outstanding staff he has put together at Mizzou," Shields said. "I can't wait to get myself and the family up to Columbia to get started. As with any basketball program, there is work to be done. Helping Kim continue to build a strong foundation for this program will be an incredibly important part of my role. I'm excited to get started."

A program architect much like Anderson, Shields oversaw a winning program on and off the court at UALR. The Trojans posted a 192-178 (.519) record, including just the second and third 20-win seasons of the Sun Belt era for UALR (1991-present). Shields also coached two Sun Belt Male Student-Athletes of the Year.

Following a 4-24 season for UALR in 1999-2000, Shields entered the picture as an assistant coach on Porter Moser's staff. UALR put together three-straight 18-win seasons from 2000-01 to 2002-03. Shields took the reins of the program beginning with the 2003-04 season and promptly won Sun Belt Coach of the Year recognition, all while not returning a single starter from the previous season's squad.

Shields won two-straight Sun Belt East Division titles to start his tenure at UALR (2003-04, 2004-05). UALR accomplished the feat again in the Sun Belt's West Division from 2007-08 to 2008-09. Shields' 2008-09 squad claimed 15 wins in conference action, the most by a UALR team since the school's 1987-88 team also won 15 in the Trans America Athletic Conference.

Following UALR's Sun Belt Tournament championship run and ensuing NCAA Tournament berth in 2010-11, Shields helped bring a fifth conference divisional title back to Little Rock after his group posted a 12-4 mark in Sun Belt action during the 2011-12 campaign.

Shields came to UALR after a successful run at McLennan Community College in Texas from 1996-2000, earning Texas Junior College Coach of the Year in 1998. Shields built up coaching experience in the junior college ranks throughout the 1990s, serving as an assistant coach at McLennan (1990-93), Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College (1993-94) and Kilgore (Texas) Junior College (1995-96).

Shields is a graduate of Baylor University in 1988 with a bachelor's of science in education and again in 1992 with a master's in education. He has one son, Hayden, and one daughter, Halle. Shields and his wife, Kendra, were married in 2012. She is the mother of two children, Hayden Jennings Ford and Madison Leigh Ford.

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