Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Director of Scouting, Video and Analytics
- Email:
- Louie.Al-Hafidh@unt.edu
- Phone:
- 940-565-3654
- Alma Mater:
- Southern California
Louie Al-Hafidh is in his fourth season at North Texas as Director of Scouting, Video, and Analytics for the 2023-24 season. In Al-Hafidh’s first three seasons in Denton, the Mean Green have won three conference championships and have gone 74-24 (75.5%), which is the most wins in a three-year period in program history.
In 2022-23 the Mean Green won the program’s first ever NIT championship and once again broke the program record for wins (31) and achieved the nation’s number one scoring defense (55.8). The Mean Green also tied the program record for conference wins (16). The Mean Green went on to beat the NIT number one overall seed Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma, before beating Wisconsin in the semifinal, and UAB in the championship.
The 2021-22 season set several records for UNT including: most wins (25), most road wins (9), most conference wins (16), longest win streak (15), the program’s first NIT win, the nation's number one scoring defense (55.7) and best scoring defense in C-USA history.
In 2020-2021, the Mean Green achieved their first ever NCAA Tournament victory with a 78-69 upset over fourth-seeded Purdue. The Mean Green won four games in four days to clinch their first Conference USA Tournament championship and first tournament championship in 11 years and earned its highest seed ever (13) in the NCAA tournament. The win against the nationally ranked Boilermakers (No. 20) was the program’s first AP top 25 win since 1972.
Al-Hafidh is responsible for constructing the scouting reports and sharing opponent film with his student-athletes and staff. In addition, Al-Hafidh has revamped the video cameras at the Super Pit, helping install three state of the art Synergy automated cameras. This has helped film every single practice and game for the Mean Green. In addition, Al-Hafidh worked with DVSport to implement tablet technology on the sidelines during conference games for the first time in C-USA play. Likewise, Al-Hafidh adds an analytical approach along with scouting, to add objective data to help make more informed on court decisions. Al-Hafidh is also responsible for organizing the Mean Green’s annual summer camps that have hosted over 300 boys and girls in Denton. Al-Hafidh is also responsible for scheduling non-conference games for the program.
Before Al-Hafidh was hired by North Texas in 2020, he was a men’s assistant coach at John Jay College in New York City during the 2019-2020 season. The program reached historic heights in Al-Hafidh’s lone season with the Bloodhounds, tying for most wins in program history (20), most CUNYAC victories (13), and finished as regular season CUNYAC Champions. For the first time in fifteen years, John Jay clinched the top seed in the conference postseason tournament. The team made the ECAC DIII Men’s Basketball Championship postseason tournament.
Prior to coaching at John Jay, Al-Hafidh earned his Master of Science in Sports Management from Columbia University in 2019. While completing his Master’s program, Al-Hafidh was elected President of Columbia’s Sports Management Association and earned first place in Columbia’s Basketball Analytics Case Competition. He also was a graduate assistant and the video coordinator on Columbia University’s women's basketball coaching staff during the 2018-2019 season, where he worked on video, analytics, scouting, and game preparation. Al-Hafidh helped the women’s basketball team with projects that included tracking shot selection, transition offense, and defensive impact per possession.
Al-Hafidh is a Certified 94 Feet of Game Player Development Trainer under Los Angeles Lakers Coach Phil Handy.
Al-Hafidh received his B.A. from the University of Southern California. After graduation, he worked at Google for six years before pursuing a Master’s at Columbia alongside his passion for coaching.
