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After helping the Broncs to a solid
first season under Hoffman in 1999-2000, Davenport led the way on the recruiting
trail during the offseason. The results have been impressive. After going
through last season with little or no size inside, the Broncs now have seven
legitimate post players. The Broncs now have quality depth at all positions,
something else that could not have been said of the 1999-00 team. The Broncs
went from a team that numbered just 14 players last season to this season’s
team, which includes 22 players. "Robert is a tremendous
organizer and can wear many different hats at one time," said Hoffman.
"As impressive as anything is how we can communicate without saying
anything. We go back over 20 years and I feel that gives us more strength with
the day-to-day operations of the team." Davenport served as Hoffman’s
right hand man at Oklahoma Baptist from 1994-97. During his four years with the
Bison, OBU posted a sparkling 122-25 mark and went to the NAIA National
Tournament four times. In his first year with the team, OBU defeated Division I
Oregon State. In his final year with the squad, OBU advanced to the NAIA
National Championship Game. After the 1997 season Davenport was
offered the Head Coach position at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. In
his lone season at LU, Davenport led the team to a third place finish in their
conference. Davenport moved on to Missouri
Baptist College in St. Louis, Mo., where he led MBC to within one game of the
NAIA Tournament. He took a team that had finished next to last the prior year
and led them to second in the American Midwest Conference, despite having only
four returnees from the previous year. In 1998 MCU had no all-conference
players. Under Davenport, MBU had two
all-conference players and six academic all-conference performers. Prior to his
time at OBU (1991-93) Davenport was an assistant coach at Collin County
Community College in Plano, Texas. Davenport said that he is very
excited about the opportunity stating that, "I’m honored that Bob would
ask me to work with him again. I’m excited about the opportunity here.
Everybody is really positive, helpful and upbeat about the upcoming season.
Things are in place that should really give us an opportunity to be
successful." Davenport is also very involved in
his profession. He started, coordinated and organized the first-ever Oklahoma
Basketball Coaches Association All-Star games in 1994. The games are still held
annually in Shawnee, Okla. Prior to joining the coaching ranks,
Davenport was a two-year letterwinner at Oklahoma Baptist. He also played two
years for Oklahoma Christian College. Davenport graduated from OBU with a
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Relations. He later received his Master of
Arts Degree in Education from East Central University (Okla.). Davenport is married to the former
LeAnna Crow. The couple have two children, Morgan, 6, and Reid, 2.
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Robert
Davenport enters his second year as the assistant coach for the UT Pan American
Bronc Basketball team. But his relationship with Head Coach Bob Hoffman extends
far beyond that. That relationship has helped the two combine for incredible
success, first at Oklahoma Baptist, and now at UTPA.
At
Oklahoma Baptist, Davenport was the recruiting coordinator and was the
coordinator of the OBU Basketball Camps, which is the largest basketball
team camp in the state of Oklahoma. While at OBU, Davenport recruited
two Junior College All-American players.