Former UT Tyler assistant Rob Rollinson named as new Panola College men’s basketball coach

Published 9:56 am Friday, July 25, 2025

For the second time in three years Panola College was looking for a new men’s basketball coach.

For the second time in three years Panola only had to look one seat over to find a successor.

Rob Rollinson was promoted from assistant coach to head coach last week.

“The biggest thing is keeping the team together,” Rollinson said. “Me and (former coach) Joe (Kuligoski) and Coach Kyle (Smith) did a really good job of trying to build a better roster than last season. I always try to find a way to get better. By me being in this position we retained everybody.”

Rollinson takes over for Kuligoski who left Panola after two seasons as head coach to take an assistant coaching position at Sam Houston State.

Kuligoski led the Ponies to the greatest season in program history last year.

Panola won 29 games, captured the programs first Region XIV Tournament title and made it all the way to the Final Four of the NJCAA Division I Championship.

With Rollinson taking over as head coach, he was able to retain Panola’s three returners from last season including all-American and all-Region XIV player CJ Worsham along with Benicio Leons and Akinde Redhead.

“Great building blocks,” Rollinson said. “The process wasn’t that long and everything real quick. I’m very grateful for the opportunity.”

Rollinson came to Panola last season and prior to landing his first head coaching gig had stops along the way at South Mountain in 2018, before three seasons at the University of St. Francis, Park University and Lewis University for a season.

Prior to coming to Panola last season Rollinson had experience coaching in East Texas as was an assistant at UT Tyler from 2022-23 where the Patriots garnered a No. 19 ranking in the country.

Before coming to Panola Rollinson coached at Division II University of Missouri-St. Louis.

“The biggest thing is trying to recruit versatility,” Rollinson said. “I think versatility helps bring depth to where you can play guys all over the place. Trying to get good people that are competitive guys who want to be here, everyone that we have recruited so far has some love for Panola. For us it’s getting the right character guys that fit in.”

With Panola coming off a JUCO D-I Final Four appearance for the first time last season, Rollinson doesn’t feel the pressure.

The veteran coach knows the types of players he needs in order to be successful.

“There’s no pressure to me simply because we have a certain style,” Rollinson said. “We don’t get the glitz and glamour type of player. We get the guys that are underrated and under recruited and we put them in spots to be successful.”

Panola has had incredible success recently in promoting assistant coaches to head coaches on the men’s side and are hoping to strike gold once again in Rollinson.

“We are excited about Rob being our next head coach and continuing the winning tradition that the program has established over the last several years,” Vice President of Student Services/Athletic Director Don Clinton said. “As our program set new records last year and returned to the NJCAA National Tournament for the second year in a row, we feel that Rob’s experience and involvement in that process and the recruitment of this coming year’s team will be advantageous for him to continue that success.”

Rollinson has coached in many places and has made many connections throughout his time as a coach.

The California native doesn’t have a particular part of the country he calls his hot bed for recruiting but he’s open to international players and finding players that don’t just fit his program, but fit Panola as well.

“I’ve lived in a lot of different regions of America,” Rollinson said. “I think some West Coast guys, I love Texas and the south but I’ve lived in Illinois and I love Chicago. The main thing is versatile high character guys that have a will to win and a will to get better.”

Rollinson is ready to hit the ground running as he has his roster nearly complete but has an opening or two remaining to potentially find that diamond in the rough just before school starts next month.

The veteran coach feels he’s in the right place and the right person to keep the success at Panola going.

“It really is a special place,” Rollinson said. “I’ve spoken to quite a few players that have played here the last three or four years and they have not but great things to say.”