TOM KLUSMAN
HEAD BASKETBALL
COACH
 Rollins
College head coach Tom Klusman's name has been synonymous with success
and class for nearly 30 years. Entering his 26th season at the helm
of the Tars program, Klusman ranks 16th among active NCAA II men's
coaches with 435 wins.
Klusman
enjoyed his most prolific season with the Tars two years ago.
He led the 2003-04 Tars to their most successful season in school
history. That unforgettable team from two years ago set school records
in wins with a 27-6 record, and winning percentage, at .818. The ‘04
Tars won the Sunshine State Conference for the second straight season,
and earned the sixth NCAA II playoff berth in Rollins history. The
Tars had unprecedented success in the 2004 tournament as they advanced
all the way to the Elite Eight for the first time. These accomplishments
earned Klusman his fourth SSC Coach of the Year award, and second
straight.
Klusman
began his illustrious career at Rollins as a standout guard from 1972
to 1976. He averaged 10.5 points per game and handed out 352 assists
in his career. He was a key player on the first two Tar squads that
made the NCAA tournament in 1974 and 1976. He remains number
30 on the Rollins All-Time scoring list with 1,006 career points.
After his
playing career, Klusman began coaching in 1978, assisting Bobby Marr
at Winter Park High School, followed by three seasons at Rollins as
an assistant under Mark Freidinger. He was named head coach in 1980
at the age of 26, the youngest in school history.
In his 26
years at Rollins, Klusman has had 18 winning seasons, seven seasons
with 20 or more victories, four SSC titles, one conference tournament
title and has reached three NCAA II tournaments. Klusman has accumulated
a mountain of accolades during his time at Rollins including: the
1991 and 2003 NABC South Region Coach of the Year awards and the 1984,
1991, 2003 and 2004 SSC Coach of the Year awards. He was inducted
into the Rollins Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992 and into the Sunshine
State Conference Hall of Fame in 2000.
Klusman
has coached four All-Americans, four All-South selections, two conference
Players of the Year, two SSC Freshmen of the Year, and 31 All-Sunshine
State Conference players.
His teams
have been known for great shooting and tough defense. Klusman's teams
are constantly among the conference and national leaders in one of
three shooting categories. Rollins led the nation in three-point percentage
during the 1990-91 season, when they made 278-of-585 of their shots
from behind the arc for a blistering 47.5 percent. During the 1995-96
campaign, Rollins became the first team in the 20-year history of
the Sunshine state conference to lead the league in all three shooting
categories. In the 2002-03 season, the Blue and Gold ranked fifth
in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 59.8 points per contest.
One of Klusman's
all-time greatest marksmen, Daniel Parke, holds a record that stands
on every level of the NCAA, Division I, II, and III. In Parke's
four years at Rollins from '93-'97, he hit at least one three-point
field goal in 93 consecutive games.
Klusman attended Finneytown
High School in Cincinnati. He earned four letters as the point guard
at Rollins from 1972-1976. He ranks seventh on the Tars career assist
list and is a member of the 1,000 point club. Klusman received his
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration in 1976 and his
MBA in 1978, both from Rollins. He is married to the former Jennifer
Murray of Winter Park. They have a daughter, Maggie, and twin sons,
Brian and Perry.
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