Mississippi Valley announces James Green
as men's basketball coach
July 20, 2005
Itta Bena, MS --- Mississippi Valley State University has
announced James Green as its 11th head men’s basketball
coach at a press conference held today on campus in the Sutton
Administration Building.
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James Green |
“Any of the candidates could have done an outstanding
job, but the thing that kept sticking out about Coach Green
is that he has that Division I experience that we were looking
for to advance our program,” said MVSU President Dr.
Lester Newman. “I commend Mr. Lonza Hardy and Dr. Gerald
Peoples for working to get that strong of a pool of candidates
together.”
Green, the 1999-2000 Conference USA Coach of the Year, replaces
the legendary Lafayette Stribling, who retired earlier this
summer after garnishing over 300 wins in 22 years of service
to MVSU.
Green most recently served The University of Southern Mississippi
as head basketball coach from 1996-2004. During his tenure
there he led the Golden Eagles to a 123-109 record, which included
a Conference USA regular season championship (1999-2000) and
two trips to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
“The fact that James Green is being hired is a testament
to his skills as a coach and to the likelihood of him coming
in here and having a dramatic impact on our program from day
one,” said Hardy, MVSU’s athletics director. “We
look forward to Coach Green coming in here and getting our
program ready for this season and beyond.”
Prior to joining Southern Miss’ staff, Green served
Iowa State (1994-96) and Alabama (1992-94) as assistant basketball
coach. While at Alabama, he helped lead the Crimson Tide to
the NIT (1993) and into the second round of the NCAA Tournament
(1994).
Green has also held assistant coaching positions with Texas
A&M University-College Station (1990-92) and The University
of Idaho (1988-90), where the Vandals won two Big Sky Conference
championships (1989, 1990) and made two appearances in the
NCAA Tournament (1989, 1990).
“I’m very excited to have an opportunity to work
with Mr. Hardy, Dr. Newman and the entire Mississippi Valley
State University family,” said Coach Green. “I’ve
had a long time to follow Coach Stribling. He’s someone
well respected throughout the state of Mississippi. It’s
just an honor to be selected to try and fill those shoes”.
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