He was the head men's basketball coach at Fresno State from 2002 to 2005, before resigning due to his involvement in the recruiting violations the program committed during his time there.
Lopes was named the head coach at Fresno State on April 3, 2002, replacing Jerry Tarkanian.
[3] Lopes resigned from Fresno State after the 2004–05 season after it was revealed that he had violated the telephone contact recruiting rule, something that he had also done while as an assistant at Oklahoma.
[1] He received a three-year show-cause penalty as a punishment, beginning from his departure from Fresno State.
[4] Lopes spent one season as a scout with the San Antonio Spurs before joining the Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League as the associate head coach.