May 14, 1998
Tom Billeter has been hired as an assistant basketball coach at Texas A&M, Aggies head coach Melvin Watkins said Thursday.
A former head coach at North Dakota State, Billeter served last season as an assistant at St. John's under coach Fran Fraschilla, helping the Red Storm to a 22-10 record and and NCAA Tournament berth.
Prior to his one season at St. John's, Billeter built a five-year record of 97-50 as head coach at North Dakota State, leading the Bison to four straight 20-win seasons and four straight NCAA Division II national tournaments.
From 1987-92 he was an assistant at Rice and from 1985-87 was an assistant at Arizona under coach Lute Olson.
In 1996, Billeter coached Team America, a squad of Division I players age 22 and under that competed at the Turgut Atakol Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey.
"We can certainly take advantage of Tom's knowledge of the game, especially his experience as a head coach," Watkins said. "He has some valuable Texas ties and a rapport with the high school coaches and he proved at St. John's that he can recruit nationally."
The 37-year-old Billeter and his wife, Paula, have four children: Michael (11), Kelsey (8), Kyle (5) and Brett (3).