One of the most respected coaches in college basketball, Bobby Lutz (pronounced LOOTS) is in his second season as special assistant to the head coach.
Lutz has a wealth of coaching experience, as he won nearly 400 games as a college head coach and reached the postseason 22 times as either a head coach or an assistant, including 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. He guided his team to postseason play in his 14 of his 21 seasons as a head coach.
Lutz is reunited with Fred Hoiberg as the pair worked together at Iowa State during the 2010-11 campaign, building the foundation which led to the Cyclones’ four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. In his lone season in Ames, Lutz helped the Cyclones post their highest win total since the 2005-06 campaign. Before joining the Nebraska staff in May of 2019, Lutz most recently worked with Hoiberg in the Chicago Bulls organization, serving as an assistant with the Windy City Bulls in the NBA G League, as the team went 23-27 in its inaugural campaign.
Prior to coaching in the professional ranks, he spent five seasons at North Carolina State, where he was instrumental in helping the Wolfpack make four straight NCAA Tournaments, including a pair of Sweet 16 appearances under Mark Gottfried. He joined the staff in 2011-12, and was promoted to associate head coach for his final four years at the school. During that stint, North Carolina State won 108 games and won at least 22 games on four occasions. In 2015, Lutz was ranked by CoachStat.com as the top X’s and O’s assistant coach in the country.
Lutz is most known for his successful tenure at Charlotte from 1999 to 2010, where he guided his alma mater to eight postseason appearances (five NCAA, three NIT) in his 12 years at the helm. He is the winningest coach in 49er history, posting a record of 218-158 and is the only coach in school history to make back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances twice in his career.
A native of Denver, N.C., Lutz led Charlotte to a school-record five 20-win seasons, averaged more than 18 wins a year and won three Conference USA titles (1999, 2001 and 2004) in his tenure with the 49ers. He had four top-20 national recruiting classes and tutored 10 players who earned first-team all-conference honors. Five times in his career a Lutz-coached 49er squad knocked off a top-10 opponent, including a win over No. 3 Cincinnati in 1999. Five of the eight wins over top-10-ranked opponents in Charlotte’s history came under Lutz’s watch.
In 2005, Lutz was a finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award. During his 49ers tenure, he also was tabbed as the 2005 C-USA Coach of the Year by ESPN.com and CollegeInsider.com, and was named 1999 Conference USA Coach of the Year by the Birmingham News.
Prior to being named head coach, Lutz was an assistant coach at Charlotte for three seasons (1996-98) assisting Jeff Mullins for one year and working for Mullins’ successor, Melvin Watkins, for two years. The 49ers compiled a record of 56-35 and went to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments when Lutz was an assistant for Watkins.
Prior to his stint at Charlotte, Lutz molded Pfeiffer, an NAIA school in Misenheimer, N.C., into a national power as head coach from 1986 to 1995. He posted a 181-91 record and qualified for six straight NAIA Tournament berths, including three Final Four appearances. His teams had a .785 winning percentage (153-42) from 1990-95, and he developed 10 NAIA All-Americans. Lutz began his coaching career as in 1984, serving as an assistant coach at Clemson for two seasons under Cliff Ellis.
Lutz graduated with High Honors from UNC Charlotte in 1980 with a degree in economics and psychology and a 3.82 GPA. He earned three other degrees: Lenoir-Rhyne, 1981 (A.B. Secondary Education); Winthrop, 1985 (M.A.T. Secondary Social Studies); Clemson, 1986 (M.A. Education - Administration & Supervision). He is a member of Pfeiffer’s Athletics Hall of Fame and the UNC Charlotte Alumni Hall of Fame.
Lutz and his wife, Janet, have two adult daughters, Natalie and Christine.
Bobby Lutz
TitleSpecial Assistant to the Head Coach
Phone(402) 472-2265
Emailblutz@huskers.com
Alma MaterCharlotte