Sports

UAPB to name Mississippi Valley assistant George Ivory head coach

By Jeremy Muck/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, March 27, 2008 8:31 AM CDT

Mississippi Valley State assistant coach George Ivory will be named the new head men’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, according to UAPB Athletic Director Louis “Skip” Perkins.

A press conference has been scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Golden Lion Stadium. The press conference is open to the public.

Ivory served under James Green at MVSU for one season as the Delta Devils won the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament championship and played UCLA in the NCAA Tournament last Thursday. Mississippi Valley State ended the Golden Lions’ season on March 14 in the semifinals of the SWAC Tournament in Birmingham, Ala.

While he has never been a head coach at the Division I level, Ivory is familiar with UAPB. He was an assistant under Van Holt from 2002-2006 before leaving for Grambling State, where he spent one season. Ivory began his coaching career at Jackson State and coached under Lafayette Stribling, his coach during his college career in Itta Bena, Miss., at MVSU from 1998-2002.

Perkins received applications from several current Division I head coaches and assistants who were interested in the vacancy at UAPB. Former Arkansas State head coach Dickey Nutt interviewed for the job with Perkins and UAPB Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis on Monday but withdrew from the search on Tuesday.

Ivory was inducted into the Mississippi Valley State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006. He was a four-year letterman for the Delta Devils in the late 1980s and led MVSU to the NCAA Tournament in 1986. The Delta Devils lost to Duke 85-78 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 1986 in one of the most memorable No. 1-No. 16 matchups in tournament history.

Ivory graduated from Mississippi Valley State in 1988 with a degree in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. He received his Master’s in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation in 1996 at Jackson State.

Holt resigned on March 17 after six seasons. He was 50-124 overall and 35-73 in SWAC play. The former Dumas High head coach led UAPB to the SWAC Championship Game in 2006, where the Golden Lions lost to Southern. Holt had led the Golden Lions to three consecutive SWAC Tournaments, but was not able to get UAPB to the NCAA Tournament.

The Golden Lions were 13-18 in 2007-2008. UAPB had started 5-2 in the SWAC in the month of January but went 3-8 in their final 11 games of the conference schedule. In the SWAC Tournament, UAPB rebounded from a four-game losing streak to end the regular season as they knocked off Alabama A&M in the first round in Birmingham before losing to MVSU in the semifinals.

UAPB was plagued by the absence of starting point guard Terrance Calvin, who left the program right before the start of the SWAC season on Jan. 5 at Mississippi Valley State. Holt was forced to use players out of position and while UAPB advanced to the SWAC semifinals for the second consecutive season, the lack of guard play hurt the Golden Lions in the end.

Ivory will have to get to work as soon as possible as he will have to find a way to replace five seniors, including first-team All-SWAC selection William Byrd and Little Rock native Larry Williams. The Golden Lions will return one starter next season, sophomore forward George Davis, who will be a junior. The current roster does not have anyone who will be a senior next season, so barring any one-year junior college transfers, Davis, Tyrees Glass, Cory Norman, and Allen Smith will be the program’s main veterans next season as juniors.

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