University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- agarci24@unca.edu
- Phone:
- 250-3886
UNC Asheville head men’s basketball coach Mike Morrell announced on June 2, 2025 the hiring of Andrew Garcia as an assistant coach.
Garcia will begin his second season with the Bulldogs in 2026-27 after joining the staff following a season at Mercyhurst University. He is no stranger to the Big South Conference, having previously spent five seasons at USC Upstate.
In his first season at UNC Asheville in 2025-26, Garcia helped the Bulldogs continue their sustained success, as the team recorded at least eight conference wins for the seventh consecutive season and advanced to the Big South semifinals for the fourth straight year, making Asheville one of just 22 programs nationally to achieve that feat. The Bulldogs led the conference in multiple offensive categories while holding opponents to the league’s lowest scoring average over the last three seasons. Asheville also earned six Big South weekly honors and produced five all-conference selections, while averaging more than 73 points per game for the seventh consecutive season and leading the conference with 13 games featuring multiple 20-point scorers.
Garcia helped Mercyhurst to a 15-16 record in the program’s first season as a Division I member, including a 9-7 mark in conference play and a strong finish with two straight league victories.
Prior to Mercyhurst, Garcia spent five seasons at USC Upstate, where he helped guide the Spartans to steady improvement, highlighted by a standout 2021-22 season. That year, Upstate earned the No. 2 seed in the Big South Tournament, set a program record for conference wins in its Division I era with 10, and reached the tournament semifinals for the first time as a league member.
Before his time at Upstate, Garcia served as the head coach at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, where he was the program’s first men’s basketball head coach and led the Cougars to their first Presidents’ Athletic Conference Tournament appearance and first tournament victory in 2016.
Garcia also spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Carnegie Mellon, where he served as recruiting coordinator and defensive strategist, and two seasons as an assistant at Flagler College, overseeing player development, scouting, and recruiting efforts. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Marshall, where he helped develop multiple players who went on to professional careers.
A former student-athlete at Tulane, Garcia led the team in assists twice and served as team captain as a senior. He was also a Conference USA All-Academic selection and scored a career-high 23 points against Southern Miss. Prior to Tulane, he was a walk-on for the football team at the University of Pittsburgh.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Garcia graduated from Central Catholic High School in 2002. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Tulane in 2006 and a master’s degree in adult and technical education from Marshall in 2009. He and his wife, Brittany, have three children: Penelope, Nikolai, and Oliver.
