Former UCF coach, Iowa assistant Speraw retires
Former UCF men’s basketball coach Kirk Speraw announced his retirement Wednesday after 43 years of coaching college basketball.
Speraw has served as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa for the past 12 years following a 17-year run as head coach in Orlando.
The Sioux City, Iowa, native was fired by UCF in 2010 and departed as the program’s all-time winningest men’s basketball coach.
During his tenure, UCF made four trips to the NCAA tournament (1994, ‘96, 2004-05) while 18 players received all-league honors, including four first-team selections.
His most successful season at UCF was 2004 when the Knights won 25 games, received votes in the Top 25 and won the Atlantic Sun Championship to earn an automatic NCAA tournament bid.
In 2007, he was recognized as Conference USA Coach of the Year after guiding the Knights to 22 victories and a second-place league finish.
At Iowa, Speraw helped guide the Hawkeyes to 20 or more wins
in eight of the last 10 years. With Speraw on staff, Iowa placed fifth or better in the Big Ten standings in six of the last eight seasons.
Working under head coach Fran McCaffery, Speraw and Iowa won the 2022 Big Ten tournament championship.
Speraw began his coaching
career as a graduate assistant under Hall of Fame head coach Lute Olson on Iowa’s 1980 Final Four team.
“I was fortunate that Coach Olson gave me my start in coaching here at the University of Iowa and I am grateful that Coach McCaffery and [AD] Gary Barta brought me back to my alma mater to finish my coaching career with a Big Ten championship,” Speraw said in a release.
“I want to thank my wife, Tracy, and our four kids [Drew, Brooke, Dustin and Bailey] for their support and patience throughout my coaching career,” he added.
“And I want to thank all the student-athletes that I have had the honor to coach throughout my career.”
Before UCF, Speraw served as an assistant coach at Florida for three seasons (1991-93) under head coach Lon Kruger. The Gators participated in two NITs.
Speraw was the head coach at Pensacola Junior College from 1988-90. He also had a coaching stop at Florida Southern, serving as an assistant from 1983-87.