Basketball assistant coach leaves for new job

After one season in Orlando, UCF Men's Basketball assistant coach Steve DeMeo has decided to accept the head coaching job at Newberry College in South Carolina.

DeMeo was introduced in a news conference Wednesday, officially becoming the 23rd head coach in the history of the Division II program.

He takes over a team that went 21-8 last year and finished second in the South Atlantic Conference.

In his only season with UCF, DeMeo worked closely with the UCF guards, especially Jermaine Taylor and A.J. Rompza.

Under his watch, Taylor garnered Conference USA Player of the Year honors and Rompza was named to the C-USA All-Freshman team.

Named one of the nation's premier recruiters by Rivals.com in 2007, the former Providence associate head coach helped the Knights capture one of their best recruiting classes in the history of the program, with the addition of highly touted recruits Marcus Jordan, Keith Clanton and Nik Garcia.

"We are ecstatic to have attracted one of Division I's top assistant coaches to Newberry College," Newberry College athletics director Brad Edwards said in a news release. "Steve DeMeo brings a wealth of experience with him in recruiting and developing college basketball players and putting them in position to compete for championships. We are very excited about the future for men's basketball at Newberry College with Steve DeMeo leading the way."

DeMeo had been rumored to be the front runner for a couple of head coaching jobs this offseason, including Newberry and USF. The Buffalo University grad has had five years head coaching experience at the junior college level. He served as the head coach at Monroe Junior College in New York and led the Mustangs to a 53-8 record in two seasons.

From 1990-93, DeMeo served as the head coach for Bronx Community College, where he led the Broncos to numerous accolades, including the City University of New York Athletic Conference Tournament title in 1991.

Before coming to UCF, DeMeo served on the coaching staff at Providence for 10 seasons.
During his tenure, the Friars made a pair of trips to the NCAA Tournament, and finished in the top three in the Big East standings three times.

He helped lead the team to key victories over schools such as No. 4 Connecticut and No. 14 Illinois during his most successful season, in which his team spent nine weeks in the national rankings and finished with a 20-9 record in the 2003-04 season. He helped  lead his team to a pair of 20-win seasons during his tenure.

DeMeo replaces former head coach Jeremy Luther, who left Newberry College to become the head coach at Armstrong Atlantic State.