I mentioned this as a rumor last week. Here is the statement from South Alabama now that Darnell Archey’s hiring has been made official…
When new University of South Alabama men’s basketball head coach Matthew Graves needed an assistant for his staff, he didn’t look far for his first hire.
Graves announced Monday that Butler coordinator of basketball operations Darnell Archey has joined the Jaguar coaching staff.
Archey, a four-year letterwinner for Butler from 1999-03, served on the Bulldogs’ staff for the past four seasons.
“I am extremely excited for the opportunity to be a part of Coach Graves’ staff at the University of South Alabama,” Archey said. “Matthew is a man of high character and a tireless worker. Under Coach Graves’ guidance you will see a basketball program that will stress academics and will be a hardworking and selfless team on the floor that the South Alabama community will be proud of.”
The New Castle, Ind. native accumulated five years of coaching experience at the high school level, including three as a head coach, where he mentored two McDonald’s All-Americans and future all-conference performers in the ACC and Big 10 Conference, before being hired at his alma mater.
“Darnell was one of the most dedicated players I have ever seen at Butler,” Graves said. “His work ethic and passion for the game will be contagious for our players. He will be very instrumental in skill development and system implementation.”
Archey’s most recent work as a head coach came at Park Tudor (Ind.) High School in 2008-09. In his one season, he coached Kevin (Yogi) Ferrell, who was ranked the No. 2 point guard and No. 19 overall by Rivals.com. Ferrell was Indiana Mr. Basketball runner-up before earning All-Big 10 Honorable Mention and All-Freshman Team honors at Indiana.
Prior to his stop at Park Tudor, Archey spent two seasons as the head coach at Columbus North (Ind.) High school.
While at Carmel (Ind.) High School from 2004-06, he spent two seasons as varsity assistant and junior varsity head coach, helping the Greyhounds to a sectional runner-up appearance in 2005 and a sectional championship a year later. One of his pupils was Josh McRoberts, who went on to star at Duke and is a six-year veteran in the NBA.
As a player, Archey set several school records and played on three NCAA Tournament teams. He finished his career as the school’s all-time leading 3-point shooter—he is currently third—with 217, and set new school marks for free throw percentage in a season (97.3%) and a career (95.1%).
The free throw records were helped by his NCAA-record 85 consecutive conversions at the charity stripe, set over parts of three seasons starting on Feb. 15, 2001 and ending on Jan. 18, 2003.
Butler set or tied a school record for victories in a season in each of Archey’s four years, culminating in a 27-6 campaign in 2002-03 that resulted in a “Sweet 16” appearance.
Archey’s teams appeared in the postseason all four years and compiled a 4-4 record in the NCAA Tournament and NIT. In the Bulldogs’ run to the “Sweet 16,” they earned wins over No. 20 Mississippi State and No. 14 Louisville before finally bowing out to top seed and No. 3 Oklahoma.
Butler defeated Louisville thanks to Archey’s eight 3-pointers (on nine attempts) and 26 points. The eight 3s are tied for the most in school history in an NCAA Tournament game—and fourth-best overall—while his percentage (88.9%) against the Cardinals still stands as the school NCAA mark. He additionally holds the Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament record for 3-point percentage in a single tournament (68.8%).
After that season, Archey participated in and won the Men’s Collegiate Three-Point Championship held at the Final Four.
After his collegiate playing career was over, Archey played with the Harlem Globetrotters and a touring Australian basketball club.
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