The Cross File

Personal Information
Birthday	December 3
Hometown	Garland, Texas
Education	UT Arlington, 1998 (Bachelor's)
Playing Career	UT Arlington, 1995-98
Wife	Jennifer
Children	Austin, Cody, Tyler

Coaching History
2019-Present	Troy - Head Coach
2018-19	TCU - Assistant Coach
2006-18	UT Arlington - Head Coach
1998-2006	UT Arlington - Assistant Coach

A consistent winner over 28 years in the coaching profession, Scott Cross enters his seventh season as head coach at Troy in 2025-26 and his 19th overall as a collegiate head coach. In that time, Cross has firmly established Troy as one of the premier programs in the Sun Belt Conference. The Trojans enter the upcoming season as the only team in the league with four consecutive 20-win seasons and the only program with 10 or more Sun Belt wins in each of the last four years.

The 2024-25 season was one to remember, as Cross led Troy to another remarkable year. The Trojans finished 23-11 overall and 13-5 in Sun Belt play, claiming the Sun Belt regular season title for the first time under Cross' leadership.

In the Sun Belt Tournament, Troy earned a bye to the quarterfinals, where the Trojans defeated No. 10 seed Old Dominion, followed by a semifinal win over No. 2 seed James Madison. In the championship game, Troy rallied from an eight-point second-half deficit to knock off No. 4 seed Arkansas State, securing a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Cross. It marked the program's first appearance in the Big Dance since the 2016-17 season.

Cross was instrumental in the development of senior guard Tayton Conerway, who was named the 2024-25 Sun Belt Player of the Year. Conerway also earned All-Sun Belt First Team honors and was named the Sun Belt Tournament Most Outstanding Player. He led the Trojans in scoring, averaging 14.2 points per game while shooting 47.1 percent from the field.

The 2023-24 season saw Troy win 20 regular season games for the third consecutive season, as well winning double-digit conference games for the third straight year. The Trojans were the only team in the Sun Belt to achieve that mark. The Trojans finished the regular season third in the Sun Belt, which is the second highest they have finished during Cross’ tenure. Troy was picked eighth in the coaches preseason poll. Troy played three nationally televised games and forced Oregon State into a double overtime showdown in Corvallis, Ore.

Troy racked up postseason honors as Christyon Eugene – who eclipsed the 1,000 career-point mark in the final regular season – was named All-Sun Belt First Team. Myles Rigsby was named the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and Tayton Conerway was named the Sun Belt Sixth Man of the Year. In addition, graduating seniors Eugene and Aamer Muhammad each signed professional deals in the summer of 2024.

Despite losing five of his top six scorers, including the top three, from the 2021-22 team, Cross led the Trojans to a 20-13 overall record in 2022-23, including an 11-7 Sun Belt record and berth in the Sun Belt Tournament quarterfinals. The non-conference slate saw the Trojans knock off Florida State, 79-72, in Tallahassee; Troy's first victory over a major-conference opponent since 2012 and first against an ACC opponent since a 1981 victory over Georgia Tech. Troy also led national-runner up San Diego State by eight points midway through the second half of a 5-point loss to the Aztecs, one year after Cross and the Trojans defeated another Final Four program in Florida Atlantic on its home court. Zay Williams earned All-Sun Belt and all-district distinction after he finished one rebound shy of becoming Troy's all-time leader in the category.

Cross led Troy to its first 20-win season in five years and back to the postseason in 2021-22 as the Trojans finished 20-12 overall and a 10-6 mark in the Sun Belt. The Trojans returned to the postseason for the first time since its 2016-17 NCAA Tournament run with an appearance in the College Basketball Invitational. Troy finished with the third-most Sun Belt wins and advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals despite being picked to finish last in the league during the preseason.

The 20-win season was just Troy's fourth since 2000, and the Cross-led Trojans won eight road games, the most by the program since the 2009-10 season. Troy was also well represented on the Sun Belt postseason awards lists, with Efe Odigie earning the league's Newcomer of the Year award and Duke Deen taking home Freshman of the Year honors. Odigie also earned all-district second team honors and All-Sun Belt First Team distinction.

Two Trojans hit the professional circuit following their careers under Cross' guidance that year as his first class of recruits for Troy in Khalyl Waters and Nick Stampley both signed professional contracts to play in Finland in the Korisliigaleague.

Troy has shattered Trojan Arena box-office records throughout Cross' tenure, including a new single-season record during the 2023-24 season, averaging 3,052 fans. Additionally, five of Troy's top-10 highest-attended games have come in the last two seasons.

Cross preceded his current run at Troy with a brief stint as an assistant coach at TCU under Jamie Dixon in 2018-19.

Cross helped lead the Horned Frogs to the Big 12 quarterfinals and a No. 1 seed in the 2019 NIT in his one year. TCU finished the season with 23 wins, the second most in program history, and Cross helped develop current Memphis Grizzles' star Desmond Bane.

The bulk of Cross' coaching career came at his alma mater UT Arlington where he presided over the most successful era of men's basketball in UTA history with five postseason appearances and five 20-win seasons.

He inherited a program that averaged 10 wins per season and made just one postseason appearance in its 47-year history and transformed the Mavericks into a premier program at the mid-major level. In addition to leading UTA to an average of 19 wins per season, he also chaired the top four seasons in program history plus signed and developed the first player in UTA history to be selected in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft when Kevin Hervey was selected with the 57th pick of the 2018 Draft.

Among UTA's postseason appearances under Cross was a quarterfinal appearance in the 2017 NIT. The historic 2017 season produced the program's first-ever Sun Belt Conference regular season title.

Throughout the course of just more than a decade, Cross guided the Mavericks to postseason tournament appearances with trips to the NCAA Tournament (2008), NIT (2012 & 2017) and CIT (2013, 2016). In addition, UT Arlington won the Southland Tournament Championship in 2008 and the 2012 regular season Southland Conference Championship.

Cross was named 2012 Southland Conference Coach of the Year, 2012 NABC District 23 Coach of the Year and was a 2012 finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year. Cross' efforts on and off the court were recognized once again in 2016 when he was announced a finalist for the 2016 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award.

In 2017, he earned Sun Belt and NABC District Coach of the Year honors after leading the Mavericks to a program-record 27 wins. Cross, who has coached 19 players to professional contracts, was named a Prosser Award finalist for the second time and earned finalist honors from the Hugh Durham Award. The Mavs defeated Texas for the first time in school history, marking UTA's first win over an AP top-25 team in program history. UTA went on to win NIT games at BYU and against Akron and posted two of the largest UTA basketball crowds in College Park Center history.

The 2016 squad helped put UTA basketball on the Division I men's basketball map. Crowned the best rebounding team in the nation and ranked in the top 10 in four team categories, UTA knocked off national powers Ohio State and Memphis on the road en route to its best start in school history (14-3).

Cross was named the head coach of his alma mater in 2006 after serving as an assistant for the previous eight seasons. In his second season, he led the Mavericks to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. During that season, the Mavericks were ranked for the first time in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, reaching a high of No. 14 in Dec. 2007.

From the end of the 2007 season throughout the 2008 season, Cross led the Mavericks to a school-record 17 consecutive home wins. In UTA's final season in the Southland (2011-12), the Mavs set a school record with 16 straight victories, which included their first 15 league games. UTA went on to finish the season 24-9 and advance to the NIT.

A three-year letter winner at UT Arlington from 1995-98, Cross gained a reputation as both a fierce competitor on the court and a scholar-athlete off the floor. Cross appeared in 82 games for UTA as a player, including 58 in the starting lineup. As a senior, Cross averaged 11.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while converting a team-high 41.5 percent of his 3-point shots, second best in the Southland Conference.

In the classroom, Cross set the standard for UT Arlington basketball. He was a two-time GTE/College Sports Information Director of America Basketball Academic All-American, earning third-team as a junior and second-team honors as a senior. Cross graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade-point-average in marketing.

Cross is married to the former Jennifer Harris, and the couple has three sons, Austin, Cody and Tyler. Austin joined the Troy men’s basketball team as a freshman ahead of the 2024-25 season.

Year	School	Record	Conf. Record	Conf. Finish	Postseason
2024-25	Troy	23-11	13-5	1st	NCAA First Round
2023-24	Troy	20-12	13-5	3rd	SBC Quarterfinals
2022-23	Troy	20-13	11-7	6th	SBC Quarterfinals
2021-22	Troy	20-12	10-6	4th	CBI First Round/SBC Quarterfinals
2020-21	Troy	11-17	4-12	6th (East)	SBC Quarterfinals
2019-20	Troy	9-22	5-15	12th
Troy Totals		103-87 (.542)	56-50 (.528)
2017-18	UT Arlington	21-13	10-8	4th	SBC Championship Game
2016-17	UT Arlington	27-9	14-4	1st	SBC Semifinals/NIT Quarterfinals
2015-16	UT Arlington	24-11	13-7	3rd	SBC Semifinals/CIT Quarterfinals
2014-15	UT Arlington	16-15	10-10	5th	SBC First Round
2013-14	UT Arlington	15-17	9-9	T-5th	SBC Quarterfinals
2012-13	UT Arlington	19-14	11-7	T-4th	WAC Championship Game/CIT First Round
2011-12	UT Arlington	24-9	15-1	1st (West)	Southland Semfinals/NIT First Round
2010-11	UT Arlington	13-16	7-9	5th (West)
2009-10	UT Arlington	16-14	8-8	5th (West)	Southland Quarterfinals
2008-09	UT Arlington	16-14	9-7	3rd (West)	Southland Quarterfinals
2007-08	UT Arlington	21-12	7-9	T-3rd (West)	Southland Champions/NCAA First Round
2006-07	UT Arlington	13-17	8-8	T-3rd (West)	Southland Quarterfinals
UT Arlington Totals		225-161 (.583)	121-87 (.581)
Career Totals		328-248 (.569)	177-137 (.564)