UTSA, men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch part ways after DWI arrest

UTSA and men’s basketball head coach Austin Claunch have mutually agreed to part ways effective immediately, Lisa Campos, the university’s athletic director, announced in a statement Friday.

The announcement comes about two weeks after Claunch was arrested in Corpus Christi on a driving while intoxicated charge.

UTSA suspended him from the team after the arrest.

Campos said assistant coach Nick Bowman will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

“After thoughtful discussions about the future of the program, we mutually agreed that this was the right time for a transition,” Campos said in a statement. “We thank Coach Claunch for his efforts over the last two years and wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

Claunch said in his own statement that he and Campos agreed it was best to move in a different direction.

“I’ll always be rooting for UTSA and the young men in this program,” he said.

According to a Corpus Christi police report, officers responded to a 911 call just before 2 a.m. about a man stumbling inside a gas station. Police said they found Claunch passed out in the driver’s seat of his parked Mercedes.

He was booked into the Nueces County Jail and released on bond.

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