Rodney Tention joined the San José State University men's basketball staff in July 2015. He served as interim head coach in July 2017 following the resignation of Dave Wojcik and prior to the appointment of Jeann Prioleau as head coach in August 2017.
Tention’s Division I success began with a run of eight consecutive NCAA Tournament berths as an assistant to Lute Olson at Arizona from 1998 through 2005. Tention was also the recruiting coordinator during his tenure with the Wildcats, who went all the way to the national championship game in 2001.
The success carried on with Tention when he took over as the head coach at Loyola Marymount in 2005. One year after finishing 3-11 in West Coast Conference play, the Lions went 8-6 in WCC action, and advanced to the conference tournament championship game in Tention’s first season. Tention coached six players to All-WCC honors, and Damian Martin became LMU’s second player in school history to earn WCC Defender of the Year under his watch.
Tention spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Stanford from 2008 through 2011. The Cardinal won 20 games and advanced to the semi-final round of the CBI tournament in Tention’s first season. Nine Stanford players received Pac-10 honors with Tention on staff.
Tention joined the Spartans after spending four seasons as an assistant coach at the University of San Diego. In 2013-14, the Toreros won two games in the CIT Postseason Tournament before falling in the quarter-final stage.
A collegiate coaching career that extends over 25 years began in 1989 when Tention was a graduate assistant coach at the University of South Florida. USF made the postseason in back-to-back year’s with Tention on the staff, including the 1990 NCAA Tournament after winning the Sun Belt Conference title.
Tention was an assistant for three seasons at the College of Notre Dame (Belmont, Calif.) before taking over as the head coach for three seasons beginning in 1994.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of San Francisco in 1988, Tention received his master’s degree in public administration from the College of Notre Dame in 1995.