UAA/Career Record: 361-233, 21 years (20 seasons) as head coach; 34 years overall at UAA
Education: B.S., Education, Univ. of Texas, 1988;
M.A., Educational Administration, SW Texas State, '90
After leading UAA to 16 winning seasons in the last 19 campaigns — including six NCAA Tourney appearances — Rusty Osborne has clearly established himself among the top coaches in both Division II basketball and school history.
Under Osborne’s leadership, UAA has gone 350-210 over its past 18 seasons, boosted by a 22-11 mark and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023-24. Included in that span are 12 victories over Division I teams and 19 over nationally ranked Division II foes.
[UAA All-Time Coaching Records]
During his head coaching tenure, Osborne’s squads have produced six All-Americans (including 2012 Div. II Bulletin National Player of the Year and GNAC Player of the Year Taylor Rohde), three CSC Academic All-Americans, 11 All-West Region performers and 27 All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference first- or second-team honorees, while 24 Seawolves have moved on to play professionally.
In 2011-12, Osborne piloted the Seawolves to a 23-7 record — the second-best winning percentage (.767) in program history — and their second straight NCAA 2nd Round appearance. UAA is 6-3 in NCAA play in its last three appearances, with two of those losses coming to the eventual national runner-up. The 2016-17 campaign was Osborne’s fifth with 21 or more victories.
In 2007-08, Osborne earned the GNAC Coach of the Year award as UAA posted the best record in school history (29-6), won its first GNAC title, and advanced to the Div. II Final Four for the first time in 20 years. The Seawolves produced a pair of All-Americans -- including GNAC Player of the Year Luke Cooper -- and rose as high as No. 4 in the national poll, earning their first-ever No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed.
In eight of the last 15 campaigns, Osborne’s teams have finished in the top 10 of the NCAA Div. II national stats in either three-point or free-throw percentage, including 2008-09 when UAA was 2nd nationally from the charity stripe and 7th from long range. Most recently, the 2019-20 Seawolves were top 10 nationally in both three-point percentage and treys per game, setting multiple program records during a 20-win campaign that included a berth in the GNAC Tournament finals. Osborne’s teams also bring a reputation for defense, leading the GNAC in points allowed in nine of his 20 seasons.
From 1991-2004, Osborne spent 13 seasons as an assistant with the Seawolves, including 11 years as Charlie Bruns’ chief assistant. The Houston, Texas, native joined the UAA staff after serving under former Seawolf coach Harry Larrabee three seasons (1988-91) at Div. I Southwest Texas State.
Since coming to UAA, he has been involved in organizing Seawolf Outreach games in Barrow, Kotzebue, Kenai and Fort Richardson, and put on clinics across Alaska, including Point Hope, Barrow, Nuiqsut, Kodiak, Kenai, Kotzebue, Tyonek and the Mat-Su Valley.
The longest-tenured coach in the GNAC and the all-time wins leader among Alaska collegiate coaches, Osborne served on the NCAA Div. II West Regional Advisory Committee from 2019-22 and chaired the national committee in 2021-22. He has also been the GNAC representative to the NABC National Congress.
Before making the move to the collegiate ranks, Osborne worked for one year at the prep level as an assistant coach at Hyde Park Baptist in Austin, Texas, helping the team to a 36-8 finish and a state title.
He graduated from the University of Texas in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in education and earned a master’s degree in educational administration two years later from Southwest Texas.
Osborne and his wife Staci, an Anchorage native, are the parents of five children — sons Sagan, Austin and Kylan, and daughters J.J. and Kadyn.
