An instrumental leader in the resurgence of the Angelo State men's basketball program, Cinco Boone is now in his sixth season as the head coach of Rams.
During the 2019-20 campaign, Boone led the Rams to their second straight 20-win season, finishing with a record of 20-8 overall, 15-7 in the Lone Star Conference. Angelo State was second in LSC West Division and advanced to the conference playoffs, defeating Lubbock Christian in the opening round. Boone also surpassed the 100 win mark during the 2019-20 season, defeating UT-Permian Bases in the final game of the regular season. The Rams earned a bid to the NCAA DII South Central Regional but saw the season cut short due to Covid-19. ASU featured two players on the LSC All-Conference team as Andres Ibarguen and Collin Turner were both named to the Second-Team. Ibarguen became the most recent Ram to play professionally overseas, signing a contract to play for Basketball Community Gelderland in the Dutch Basketball League in August.
Angelo State finished the 2018-19 season in third-place in the Lone Star standings with a record of 21-9 overall and 13-5 in conference play. Only losing back-to-back games once in the season, the Rams advanced to the conference playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. ASU featured four players on the All-LSC list as Ronald Bell earned Second-Team honors while Daron Mims, Kiair Crouch, and James Kirksey earned Honorable Mention. Kirksey was also named to the All-Defensive Team. The Rams also returned to the NCAA postseason, advancing to the DII South Central Regional, falling to St. Edwards in close matchup, 82-81.
The 2016-17 season marked Boone's second season at the helm, he and his staff led the Rams to the Lone Star Conference Tournament championship game falling just short to the University of Texas -Permian Basin. During the team's 15-11 regular season, the Rams saw guard, Quay King, become the all-time career leader in 3-pointers made. King was also named to the Conference Commissioners Association all-region second team and the All - LSC first team. Adding to the team's individual accolades for the season, Prince Foster and DeVonte' Pratt received all - conference honorable mentions. Boone and his staff also aided three Rams, Thomas Tshikaya, Gustavs Puhovs and King, in making the jump to the professional ranks overseas.
Angelo State earned a 25-7 overall record in Boone’s first season and advanced to the NCAA South Central Regional final for the second straight year. The Rams averaged 87.5 points per game throughout the season to rank in the top 15 nationally and performed well defensively as well, forcing more than 17 turnovers per game to rank 10th in the nation.
Several individual Rams earned recognition as well during Boone’s first season as well. Point guard Tre Bennett was named the LSC Newcomer of the Year after averaging 16.8 points per game. Bennett was also named to the All-LSC first team, while fellow Ram Stedman Allen earned a second-team selection. Rounding out the honorees was guard Prince Foster, who was named to the all-defensive team. Bennett also was honored with NABC All-District first team nomination as well as all-region second team honors.
Before becoming the head coach, Boone helped guide the Rams to a 47-15 record during his two seasons as the associate head coach. The New Mexico native became the sixth head coach in ASU's basketball history after former head coach Chris Beard left for another position.
Boone arrived at ASU with prior coaching experience at the Division I, Division II, junior college, and high school levels, including working as Beard's assistant coach at McMurry University during the 2012-13 season which followed two seasons as an assistant at Stephen F. Austin. He has prior head coaching experience at Jacksonville College and was a graduate assistant at Hardin Simmons University and an assistant Portales High School (New Mexico).
A Portales, New Mexico native, Boone earned his bachelor's degree from Eastern New Mexico University in Mathematics after graduating from Portales High School. His first coaching position came at his high school alma mater where he was the assistant varsity coach from 2003-06. Boone began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Hardin Simmons University during the 2006-07 season, earning his graduate degree in Sports Recreation and Management in 2008.
