Texas Southern Expected to Hire Corey Lowery as Head Coach, Per Report

Jon Rothstein reported TSU hiring former CIAA Coach of the Year Corey Lowery as head basketball coach.

Feb 15, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Seton Hall Pirates assistant coach Corey Lowery and players celebrate after the game against the Butler Bulldogs at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

HOUSTON - Texas Southern's four-month search for a men's basketball head coach may be over, but the university has yet to make an official announcement.

College basketball insider Jon Rothstein reported Sunday night that Texas Southern has hired Seton Hall assistant coach Corey Lowery as the Tigers' next head coach.

On Friday, Lowery told HBCU Legends he was a candidate for the position but had not been hired. Texas Southern representatives contacted by HBCU Legends would neither confirm nor deny the report. The Board of Regents must confirm the appointment.

That distinction matters because the university established its own search process. In June, Texas Southern announced that DHR Global would lead the search and said it would not comment further until a single finalist was identified. The university has not announced a finalist.

Lowery brings 27 years of coaching experience, including 16 seasons as a head coach. He spent four seasons on Shaheen Holloway's staff at Seton Hall, where the Pirates won the 2024 NIT championship and set a program record for victories during the staff's first two seasons.

Sources: Pending board approval, Texas Southern intends to finalize a deal to hire Seton Hall's Corey Lowery as its next head basketball coach.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 10, 2026

Lowery also has HBCU coaching experience. He spent two seasons as head coach at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, a CIAA program, and was named CIAA Coach of the Year following the 2021-22 season. That year, the Lions finished second in the Northern Division after being picked to finish 10th in the preseason poll.

Before Lincoln, Lowery was an assistant coach at Saint Peter's. He also spent time as the head coach at Essex County College, where he won six consecutive regular-season conference championships.

The Texas Southern job opened April 7, when Johnny Jones resigned after eight seasons to join Will Wade's staff at LSU. On April 20, the university named longtime assistant Shyrone Chatman interim head coach. Texas Southern hired DHR Global on June 3 to assist with the search.

Since then, Texas Southern has been the only Division I program in the country without a permanent head coach.

Chatman has led the program through the summer, securing commitments from Jason Kimbrough Jr., Sayed Sayed, Bencao Vungo and Jaylan Walton, a guard from Fresno, California, for the 2026-27 roster. He has also continued to oversee the program's day-to-day basketball operations.

Sources told HBCU Legends last week that the search had narrowed to a few finalists with Lowery as one of the candidates, but university leaders and the Board of Regents had not reached an agreement on a preferred candidate. President James W. Crawford III has the final say in both the men's basketball and athletic director searches. Chatman remained among the finalists at that point.

Classes at Texas Southern begin Aug. 17, with preseason basketball practice expected to begin soon after. The university has not scheduled an introductory news conference.

For now, Lowery is still the reported choice to lead the Tigers - not an officially announced head coach.

HBCU Legends will update this story when Texas Southern responds with an official announcement.

Add us as a preferred source on Google