Ivory looks to bring up-tempo style to UAPB

By Jeremy Muck/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

One week ago Thursday, George Ivory was in Anaheim, Calif., helping his Mississippi Valley State team prepare for a first round NCAA Tournament matchup against UCLA.

One week later, Ivory found himself in Pine Bluff as the new head men’s basketball coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The Mississippi native replaces his former boss Van Holt, who resigned on March 17 after six seasons at UAPB. The 42-year old Ivory was introduced to the media and his new colleagues at Golden Lion Stadium Thursday morning.

Ivory starred for Mississippi Valley State from 1984-1988 and helped lead the Delta Devils to the 1986 NCAA Tournament against Duke. He was the SWAC Player of the Year in 1987 and earned the SWAC Tournament Most Valuable Player Award in 1986. Ivory was inducted into the Mississippi Valley State Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

The new UAPB head coach was part of MVSU’s Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship team this past season as an assistant under James Green. Ivory previously was an assistant coach under his college coach Lafayette Stribling at Mississippi Valley State from 1998-2002.

The Golden Lions have never won the SWAC championship and in order for them to one day get to that point, Ivory said that they’ll have to work hard for it.

“I think about hard work, number one,” Ivory said. “You’ve got to work, you’ve got to have individual goals to set for yourself. You’ve got to work hard all the time to make it to the championship. That’s our goal, to work hard all the time.”

UAPB Athletic Director Louis “Skip” Perkins didn’t understate the postseason experience that Ivory brings to UAPB.

“That’s huge. That’s experience. That’s exposure,” Perkins said. “The experience he has, he can share with everyone on our staff and everyone in our community knows that there is another level that we can get to and we have to get to. We can’t just settle for qualifying for the SWAC Tournament. We can win it. We can do better. NIT, NCAA, they’re not far out of our reach. He knows about it and he can share it with us.”

Ivory is familiar with UAPB as he served under Holt from 2002-2006. He returns to Pine Bluff from his alma mater Mississippi Valley State, where he spent one season after a one-year stint at Grambling State. The Delta Devils ended the Golden Lions’ season March 14 in the semifinals of the SWAC Tournament in Birmingham, Ala.

At UAPB, Ivory will be expected to get the Golden Lions over the hump into the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Lions finished a disappointing 13-18 in 2007-2008 and have failed to get past the semifinals of the SWAC Tournament each of the last two seasons. In Ivory’s final season as an assistant at UAPB in 2006, the Golden Lions advanced to the SWAC Tournament championship game, where they lost to Southern.

Ivory plans on inserting a fast and furious style to the Golden Lions’ repertoire.

“It’s going to be an up-tempo style,” Ivory said. “We’re going to be up and down the court. We’re going to play tough defense. We’re going to press and run.”

While at UAPB, Ivory helped recruit players such as departing seniors William Byrd, Jarvis Gunter, and Larry Williams. Byrd was a first-team All-SWAC selection in 2007-2008. Gunter was UAPB’s main rebounder and Williams led the Golden Lions in scoring this past season, averaging over 14 points per game.

Ivory will have to replace five seniors, including Byrd, Gunter, Williams, Marcelle Goins, and Tim Hamilton. Perkins said Thursday that it was critical to hire a new coach before this weekend so he can go on the road and recruit before the dead period begins next week. After Thursday’s press conference, Ivory went on the road to go recruit for his new program.

“There’s a wealth of talent in this area,” Ivory said. “We’re the only Division I black university in the state of Arkansas. You’ve got a great chancellor (UAPB Chancellor Lawrence Davis) and you’ve got a great A.D. in Mr. Perkins, who’s somebody who wants to move the program forward. I just enjoyed my last stay here in Pine Bluff. It was great with the alumni. Even the faculty and staff were great. That made a difference when I applied for the job.”

UAPB received 22 applications for the head coaching position. Former Arkansas State head coach Dickey Nutt and former Arkansas basketball greats Todd Day and Corliss Williamson interviewed with Perkins and Davis, but Ivory’s SWAC pedigree won out in the end.

“He talked about different things with the program, about moving forward,” Ivory said of his interview with Perkins. “That excited me to be with a new guy that’s coming in. Chancellor Davis, I know him, I know his work ethic. I’ve just got to keep the same work ethic going here at Pine Bluff.”

Ivory’s previous stint at UAPB was helpful in the hiring process, but his willingness to take the UAPB basketball program to bigger heights was impressive to Perkins.

“It was important to a certain extent,” Perkins said of Ivory’s previous stint at UAPB. “He knew the climate. He knew some of our weaknesses and our deficiencies. But then again, he knew all the good stuff about us. He knew we had a gem here. He didn’t see why any kid that he wanted to recruit wouldn’t come here. He doesn’t see why we should not be a championship-quality program.

“We will have a winning season, quick. I don’t want to put any pressure or make any predictions, but it will be very soon. We’ll make history fast for UAPB.”