C-USA Coach of the Year (2007)
UCF Athletics Hall of Fame (2024)
Kirk Crittendon Speraw (born August 21, 1956) is an American former basketball coach who was most recently an assistant basketball coach at the University of Iowa. Speraw previously served as the head coach for the men's basketball team at University of Central Florida (UCF) from 1993 to 2010, during which UCF made four appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Early life and education
Kirk Crittendon Speraw was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa. Before Kirk went to high school, his father Eugene "Bud" Speraw was an assistant basketball coach at Sioux City Central High School. Kirk followed his father to Sioux City Central games and helped keep statistics.[1] Kirk later attended Sioux City North High School and lettered in basketball and four other sports, playing at guard on the basketball team.[1]
Speraw got his first head coaching job in 1987 at Pensacola Junior College. In three seasons, Speraw led Pensacola to an 82–21 record and three straight Panhandle Conference titles. In 1990, Speraw was named NABC/Kodak National Junior College Coach of the Year and Florida Junior College Coach of the Year, after Pensacola went 31–7 and finished fifth nationally.[3]
After three seasons at Pensacola, Speraw returned to the Division I level for the first time in a near-decade as an assistant coach at the University of Florida under Lon Kruger and served in that position from 1990 to 1993. Florida made the National Invitation Tournament in 1992 and 1993 and advanced to the 1992 NIT semifinals. Among players Speraw coached at Florida were Andrew DeClercq, who would later play in the NBA.[3]
Speraw's most successful season at UCF was 2003–04, when the Knights finished 25–6, received votes for the top 25, won the Atlantic Sun championship, and reached the NCAA tournament.[3]
Conference USA named Speraw the men's basketball Coach of the Year for the 2006–07 season.[3]
On March 15, 2010, UCF fired Kirk Speraw as head basketball coach.[6]
On February 20, 2012, UCF announced that it was vacating its wins from the 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 seasons after it was discovered that there was an ineligible player on the team.[7]
Iowa assistant (2010–2022)
On April 23, 2010, Speraw joined Fran McCaffery's staff at Iowa, Speraw's alma mater.[8] Following the 2021-2022 season, Speraw announced his retirement from coaching.[9]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
* UCF had its wins from the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons vacated after it was ruled that there was ineligible player for the Knights.[7]