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Rodney Tention enters his third season as an assistant coach with the Stanford men's basketball program.
Tention brings a wealth of experience as he enters his 23rd year of coaching at the college level, including head coaching stints at Loyola Marymount and College of Notre Dame. Tention has also served as an assistant coach for 15 seasons, including eight years at Arizona.
Tention most recently served as the head coach for three seasons at Loyola Marymount from 2006-08. In his first year at the helm, Tention guided the Lions to their best league finish in 10 seasons as his squad finished 8-6 in WCC play and tied for second place in the conference standings. Loyola Marymount continued its success by advancing to the WCC Tournament championship game for the first time since the 1989 club led by Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, only to drop a hard-fought 68-67 decision to Gonzaga in the title contest.
During his tenure at Loyola Marymount, Tention developed several players who achieved all-conference honors and all-academic recognition. In his first season, Tention had three players (Brandon Worthy, Matthew Knight, Wes Wardrop) earn first-team All-WCC honors, representing only the third time in program history and first since 1990 that the Lions had three first-team All-WCC selections. One year later, Tention helped mentor Knight to back-to-back first-team honors while Adoyah Miller earned WCC Honorable Mention honors. Also under Tention's watch, Damian Martin was named WCC Defender of the Year, just the second Lion in school history to claim the award.
Prior to his appointment at Loyola Marymount, Tention spent eight seasons (1998-2005) as an assistant coach under Lute Olson at Arizona. As a member of the Wildcats coaching staff, Tention worked primarily with the perimeter players while helping with scouting reports, game day preparation and serving as one of the key players in Arizona's nationally-renowned recruiting efforts. During his time at Arizona, the Wildcats posted a record of 206-56 (.786) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament eight straight years, including the 2001 national title contest.
Before his successful run as an assistant in Tucson, Tention spent six seasons at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, Calif. He served as an assistant coach for the Argonauts from 1992-94, recruiting the talent that led the school to its first NCAC playoff appearance in 1994. Over the next three years (1995-97), Tention served as the head coach while the program transitioned from the NCAA Division II level to NAIA status.
Tention, 47, also served as an assistant coach at South Florida for two seasons from 1990-91. The Bulls made back-to-back postseason appearances, including to the NCAA Tournament in 1989-90 after winning the Sun Belt Conference tournament. In two seasons with South Florida, the Bulls went 39-21 (.650), including a 20-win season in Tention's first season.
He received his start in the collegiate coaching ranks as an assistant coach at Skyline Community College in San Bruno, Calif., during the 1988-89 campaign in which the team captured the Coast Conference Championship.
During his three-year playing career at San Francisco, Tention averaged 10.5 points and 4.3 rebounds, was named a two-year captain and honored as the team's most valuable player. After receiving a medical redshirt during his first season, Tention recovered in a big way the following year as he was an All-WCAC Honorable Mention selection, ranking second in assists with 5.2 per game and second in steals with 2.2 per game.
Tention's final season with the Dons might have been his best, as he once again earned All-WCAC Honorable Mention honors. He ranked 24th in the league in scoring (11.0), establishing a season-high with 308 points while ranking fifth in assists (3.8) and fourth in steals (1.9).
Tention competed in the junior college ranks at Grossmont Community College, where he was the squad's captain, Pacific Coast Conference MVP and an All-State selection after averaging 14 points, eight assists and five rebounds per game during the 1984-85 season. He set the single-season record in assists with 259 in 1985, averaging 8.1 per game. He started his collegiate career at the Air Force Academy in 1983-84. As a true freshman he played in all 27 games while making 23 starts, and averaged 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game and led the team in steals with 32.
Tention received a bachelor's degree in sociology from San Francisco in 1988 and earned a master's in public administration from the College of Notre Dame in 1995. He has a son Nathan, and he and his wife, Rebecca, have two sons, Justice and Miles.