University of Houston
Sports Information
June 9, 2004
For Immediate Release

Penders Finalizes Basketball Staff

Houston, Texas- University of Houston head basketball coach Tom Penders
announced the additions of Shanon Hays and Trey Preston to his basketball
staff for the 2004-05 season.

Hays will serve as associate head coach, while Preston will be the
director of summer camps and video coordinator. They join George Walker,
who was named an assistant coach earlier this spring as newcomers to
Houston's staff.

In addition, Penders announced that Melvin Haralson is an associate
head coach and recruiting coordinator, while former Cougar All-American
player Michael Young will serve as director of basketball operations and
performance enhancement.

"I am truly excited about this staff," Penders said. "We
can measure up with any staff in the country in terms of experience both as
coaches and former players. I am confident they will represent the
University of Houston in an utmost professional manner. They are a good
group of coaches and I am pleased to have them.

"We have made a lot of progress in the short time. We had the
department's most improved grade point average as a team this past semester
and the staff deserves a lot of credit for this accomplishment."

Hays comes to Houston from Midland College, where he led the
Chaparrals to a 30-7 record and a third-place finish in the NJCAA National
Tournament in 2003-04. Midland also won the NJCAA Region V and WJCAC
championships before compiling a 3-1 record in the NJCAA Tournament. The
only loss came against top-ranked Redlands College of Oklahoma. He went to
Midland after serving as an assistant coach at Texas Tech from 1999-01 and
head coach at Abilene Christian from 1996-99. He left the coaching ranks
for one year in 2002-03 when he served as Director of Athletics at Abilene
Christian.

Preston comes to Houston after serving as an assistant coach at the
University of Incarnate Word last year and at his alma mater, Texas
Lutheran in 2002-03. He helped guide Incarnate Word to a 16-11 record last
season and Texas Lutheran finished with an 8-6 mark in the American
Southwest Conference. A four-year letterman at TLU, Preston was a starting
point guard and team captain for the Bulldogs' 1995-96 squad that finished
with a 20-9 record and won the Heart of Texas Conference championship.

Haralson returns for his fifth year at Houston, and it marks the
second time he has served on Penders' staff. He also was an assistant coach
at Texas from 1990-95. He helped the Longhorns sign two Top 10
nationally-ranked recruiting classes. This past spring, Haralson directed
the recruitment of all five junior college players who signed with Houston
after Penders was named head coach.

Walker returned to Houston on April 12 after serving as the head
coach for all sports at The Honor Roll School in Sugar Land, Texas. He
begins his 10th season as a Cougar assistant coach in 2004-05 as this marks
the third time he has coached at his alma mater. He was an assistant coach
under Clyde Drexler for two seasons in 1998-2000 and under the legendary
Guy V. Lewis from 1980-86. He was a part-time assistant coach from 1980-83
and a full-time assistant from 1984-86.

A four-year letterman at Houston, Young will be in his seventh
season as a member of Houston's basketball staff. As director of
operations, he will schedule opponents, coordinate on-campus recruiting
visits, serve as a speaker and assist with community service activities. He
also will direct the off-court conditioning and nutrition for all players
on the team.