Matt Garnett came to Wayland Baptist for the first time in 2001 as a freshman member of the Pioneer basketball team. Ten years later, he returned to campus as head coach of the program for which he once played.
Coach Garnett took over as the 11th head coach in WBU men’s basketball history after an impressive head coaching debut at McMurry University. He was named 2011 American Southwest Conference West Division Coach of the Year after leading the War Hawks to a 21-7 record, the first ASC Tournament championship since 2001 for McMurry, and an NCAA Division III playoff appearance.
The Pioneers have made great strides in the past two years under Garnett’s leadership. In each of his first two seasons at the helm, Garnett has increased the Pioneers’ win total, and in 2013 the Pioneers made it to the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time in four years.
During the 2013-14 season, Garnett led the Pioneers over the hump, returning to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time since 2008. Wayland went 23-11 on the year and finished the season ranked 22nd in the NAIA Coaches Poll. The Pioneers finished the regular season in second place in the SAC and narrowly missed out on a conference championship after advancing to the SAC Tournament championship game.
Five of Garnett’s players have been named to the prestigious All-SAC team, and three more have been named academic all-conference, one of whom was also an NAIA Academic All-American. Additionally, Markus Monroe was named an NAIA 3rd Team All-American in 2014.
An all-state guard at Glen Rose High School, Garnett started 86 of the 89 games in which he played during his three years manning the point at Wayland. The Pioneer men reached the NAIA National Tournament in each of those three seasons and had an overall record of 65-32. Garnett was a 2004 Honorable Mention All-American, NAIA Scholar Athlete and a Second Team All-Conference selection in his junior season.
Garnett played his senior season at Biola University where he was coached by NAIA Hall of Famer Dave Holmquist. The Eagles advanced to the Elite 8 at the 2005 NAIA National Tournament, and Garnett once again merited NAIA Scholar Athlete recognition.
He returned to WBU and graduated magna cum laude in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. Garnett earned his master’s in Christian Ministry one year later, and then spent two years in the high school ranks as a teacher and assistant coach at Midland High School and South Houston High School.
In January 2008, Garnett briefly found his way back to Wayland to take over as an assistant coach for Robert Davenport. He moved on to McMurry in the spring of that year and worked two years as an assistant before taking over as head coach in 2010.
A member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) as well as the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC), Garnett is the owner of MGBasketball, which runs both boys and girls “Guard and Post School” camps in the summer.
Garnett and his wife, Anna, a former cheerleader at Wayland, have two young daughters, Faith and Grace, and are expecting their third daughter this August.
