Rick Cabrera built a remarkable win-loss record in two stints as a junior college head coach.
After more than a decade as a Division I assistant and nearly another decade as a head coach in the JUCO ranks, Cabrera enters his fourth season in his “dream job” as the head coach at Northwestern State after finishing his first three years at the helm making the Southland Conference tournament.
Not only has Cabrera rebuilt the Demons from the ground up, he has also had to have found an offensive identity with a new leading scorer each of the last three years, with two of them (Addison Patterson and Micah Thomas) earning All-Southland Conference honors, with Patterson earning All-Louisiana Third Team following his 2024-25 season.
This past season, Cabrera helped the Demons reach new heights statistically, helping guard Micah Thomas and forward Willie Williams record new career highs in points, rebounds, and assists per game.
In his second season with the Demons, Cabrera led NSU to it's heighest seeding finish in his three-year tenure, earning the Demons with the No. 4 seed in the tournament and a first-round bye for its achievement.
Cabrera took over as the NSU head coach in March 2023, mere weeks after leading Tallahassee Community College to the semifinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association’s national tournament. Cabrera took the Eagles to the NJCAA Final Four despite having to replace 13 players from a season before.
In his second season at the helm of Tallahassee CC, Cabrera was named the Panhandle Conference Coach of the Year after the Eagles posted a 31-6 record and captured the conference championship. In two seasons at Tallahassee, Cabrera produced a 52-16 overall record, winning at a 76.5 percent clip.
Five of Cabrera’s players earned all-conference honors this season, and the Eagles carried a No. 7 national ranking into the national tournament.
Cabrera’s ability to develop talent has been evident throughout his career as a head coach at Lackawanna College from 2004-08 and then through myriad Division I assistant coaching positions covering 13 seasons.
Cabrera’s first Tallahassee CC team produced five all-conference players and six Division-I signees, including Anthony Thomas, a member of Kansas State’s Sweet 16 team.
Ahead of becoming the head coach at Tallahassee, Cabrera spent two seasons at Arkansas State where he helped develop all-conference guards Norchad Omier and Marquis Eaton and recruited JUCO All-American Lonnie Francis to the Red Wolves program.
During Cabrera’s two seasons at Austin Peay (2017-19), he recruited and coached Taylor, who became Austin Peay’s all-time leading scorer and earned Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year honors over current Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant.
He also worked closely with Avery Ugba, who is playing professionally overseas.
Taylor (first team) and Chris Porter Bunton (second team) earned All-OVC honors under Cabrera’s direction.
Cabrera’s tour of the Ohio Valley started with five seasons at Tennessee Tech from 2012-17.
As the Golden Eagles’ associate head coach, Cabrera helped develop Jud Dillard into a first-team All-OVC selection while working with the team’s post player, including 2012 OVC All-Newcomer first-team selection Jeremiah Samarrippas.
Cabrera’s first season as a Division I assistant coach saw his Chattanooga team sweep the Southern Conference’s regular-season and tournament championships, earning a berth in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
The Mocs also captured the 2011 SoCon North Division title while Cabrera recruited and developed first-team All-SoCon honoree Omar Wattad.
A two-time Tennessee Tech graduate, who helped the Golden Eagles win the 2001 OVC championship, Cabrera began his head coaching career at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
In his four seasons leading the Falcons, Cabrera led Lackawanna to a 100-29 record, three conference championships, two conference tournament titles and two appearances in the District 19 finals.
Cabrera was named the Region XIX Coach of the Year in consecutive years (2005, 2006) and developed Manny Ubilla into the Region XIX Player of the Year. Off the court, Cabrera helped raise the Lackawanna program’s GPA from 1.7 to 2.5.
Cabrera began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Killian High School in Miami before spending two years as an assistant coach at Keystone College in Pennsylvania.
A two-time Tennessee Tech graduate, Cabrera is married to the former Danielle Olker and the couple has three sons — Jaden, Braxton and Landon — and a daughter, Mikayla.
