SMU announces Eric Mobley, Kurt Karis as assistant coaches

DALLAS (SMU) – SMU Head Coach Andy Enfield has named Eric Mobley and Kurt Karis as assistant coaches for SMU Men’s Basketball.

Mobley and Karis worked with Enfield at USC. Mobley spent the past six seasons as an assistant coach. Karis was also at USC for six seasons, including the 2023-24 season as an assistant coach.

Enfield previously announced that Chris Capko will be the associate head coach at SMU after spending the previous eight seasons on his staff at USC.

Eric Mobley joins the Mustangs as an assistant coach at SMU. Mobley was an assistant coach on Enfield’s staff at USC for the past six years.

In his six seasons with Enfield at USC, the Trojans went 126-71 with three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the 2021 Elite Eight. The Trojans had six NBA Draft selections between 2018 and 2022. Mobley helped coach his sons Isaiah and Evan at USC, who are two of the six most recent NBA Draft picks from USC.

Mobley coached various programs for 11 years prior to joining Enfield’s staff at USC, coaching the AAU Compton Magic 16-and-Under team (2015-18) and Triple Threat AAU youth basketball program (2007-18). He traveled with the Compton Magic to China and put on coaching clinics and hosted player camps. Mobley also served as the head women’s basketball coach at Rancho Christian High in Temecula, California (2015-18). 

Mobley played collegiately at Portland from 1987-90, where he averaged 7.2 points and 5.6 rebounds as a starter in 1989-90.  He then played a season at Cal Poly Pomona, where he was the team captain.

He went on to play professionally for teams in Portugal, Mexico and Indonesia, as well as domestically in the World Basketball League and on the legendary Meadowlark Lemon’s Harlem All-Stars.

Mobley was originally from Georgia and moved to the San Diego area in the 1980s, where he graduated from Helix High in La Mesa, California.  He graduated from Portland in 1990 with a degree in Criminal Justice. He has worked in the Public Defenders Office in California in both Riverside and San Diego County as a corrections officer and investigator.  He is also involved in various ministry works, feeding the homeless and the Salvation Army.

He and Nicol are the parents of sons Isaiah and Evan, both taken in the NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Isaiah was Drafted No. 49 in the 2022 NBA Draft and Evan was drafted No. 3 overall in 2021. The Mobleys also served as foster parents for five years to teens who are now adults.  

Kurt Karis joins the Mustangs as an assistant coach at SMU. Karis was on Enfield’s staff at USC for the previous six years, including as an assistant coach in 2023-24.

Karis was an assistant coach on the USC staff in 2023-24 after the previous three seasons as director of scouting and two seasons as a graduate assistant. He earned his Master’s in Communication Management in 2020.  He also earned his undergraduate degree from USC in Communication.

Karis spent three seasons as a student-athlete with USC basketball (2015-18), and was a back-up guard for the Trojans. That was following two years at Chicago State (2013-15).  

Karis played his high school ball at Glenbrook North in Northbrook, Illinois, where he averaged 17 points and seven assists as a senior.  He was named all-conference his final three seasons at Glenbrook North and was named the team MVP his final two seasons.  He helped lead his team to conference titles each of his final three seasons.

Karis is one of 10 children.