Baylor

A basketball lifer, Melvin Hunt was named an assistant coach on Scott Drew's staff on May 7, 2024.

In his first season on the bench in 2024-25, the former Baylor star assisted in maintaining Baylor's place among the top programs in the country with a school-record sixth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. BU's run to the NCAA Tournament marked 13-straight postseason appearances, the fifth-longest active streak in the nation. Ranked as high as No. 8, Baylor extended its streak of being ranked in the top 10 for six straight years, joining Duke, Gonzaga, Kentucky, and Kansas. VJ Edgecombe also earned both the Big 12 preseason and postseason Freshman of the Year honors, marking the third straight year a Baylor player has achieved this, a first in Big 12 history.

A four-year letterwinner for Baylor from 1987-91, Hunt helped Baylor to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 38 years as a freshman during the 1987-88 season. As a junior, he helped BU back to the postseason as the Bears earned a bid to the 1990 NIT, its third postseason appearance in four years.
 
Upon graduation from Baylor, Hunt played professionally in the Caribbean and Mexico before starting his two-plus decade tenure as coach. After getting his start on the sidelines as an assistant at Temple High School, he broke into the college ranks at Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
 
From San Antonio, Hunt went east on I-10 to begin a four-year stint with the Houston Rockets as a scout (1999-2001 and 2003-04) and an assistant coach (2002-03). Following a season as an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004-05, Hunt went to Cleveland, where he spent five years with the Cavs during one of the most successful tenures in franchise history. In addition to a 2007 Eastern Conference Championship and a berth in the NBA Finals that season, Hunt helped the Cavs to a franchise-best 66 wins in 2008-09 en route to another Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2009.
 
After leaving Cleveland, Hunt spent five years on staff with the Denver Nuggets under George Karl and Brian Shaw, coaching the Nuggets to a 10-13 record in 23 games as the Interim Head Coach in 2015. Most recently he spent six years on the bench with the Dallas Mavericks (2015-18) and Atlanta Hawks (2018-21).

Hunt earned his bachelor's from Baylor in Business Administration in 1991 and earned his master's in Science Education in 1994.

The Tallulah, La., native is married to Carmen and has two children, Braya and Miles.