Artis Maddox, a successful coach who has served on the coaching staff of a national championship team, has been named the head men’s basketball coach of the Benedict College Tigers, Director of Athletics Willie Washington announced.
“Coach Maddox’s credentials speak for themselves,” Washington said. “Any time you have the opportunity to hire a coach with national championship experience, you jump at it. We want to make Benedict a national championship contender and Coach Maddox is the man who can take us there.”
Maddox comes to Benedict after serving as head coach at Florida Memorial University for the past three seasons. At Florida Memorial, he took over a program that had won just three games prior to his arrival and won 10 games in his first season. In just his second season, the Lions finished 18-8 overall in 2016-17, 13-3 in the Sun Conference, won the regular season title, defeated four ranked opponents, and Maddox was voted the Sun Conference Coach of the Year. He guided Florida Memorial to the first-ever national ranking in school history during the 2016-17 season, and the Lions started the 2017-18 season ranked No. 14 nationally. The Lions went 15-12 last season and had two players earn All-Conference honors.
“We are excited to welcome Coach Maddox to the Benedict College family,” said Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis, President and CEO of Benedict College. “Coach Maddox has a proven track record as a committed leader and champion who has garnered a reputation as an excellent recruiter and mentor to student athletes.”
At Florida Memorial, he coached six players who received All-Conference honors, and had one All-American and one NAIA Scholar-Athlete All-American.
Prior to his stint at Florida Memorial, Maddox spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at Mountain State University, where he helped lead the Cougars to the 2003-04 NAIA Division I national championship with a 38-1 record, the best record of any college or university in the country.
With Maddox on the basketball staff, the Cougars had an overall record of 277-38. During his tenure as an assistant at MSU, Coach Maddox won nine consecutive conference regular season titles, seven conference tournament championships, and advanced to the national tournament every season, making it to four semifinals and three championship games in nine seasons. MSU held the No. 1 ranking in the nation for over 70 weeks and ranked in the top 25 nationally for 134 consecutive weeks.
Maddox helped recruit and coach seven first-team All-Americans, four second-team All-Americans, five third-team All-Americans, eight honorable mention All-Americans and one National Player of the Year.
A Jacksonville, Fla. native, Maddox attended Robert E. Lee High school where he averaged 23 points and 12 rebounds per game. After graduating, he attended Edward Waters College, where he was conference Freshman of the Year, averaging 14 points and six rebounds. He transferred after two seasons to Mountain State, where he had 500 points over his career and was second in free-throw percentage. He had a career high 29 points, 8 rebounds and 6 steals in the first round of the National Tournament against Waylen Baptist. While at Edward Waters and Mountain State, Maddox was voted team captain and helped lead MSU to its first No. 1 ranking in the country.
Maddox earned his Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Mountain State University in 2002. He and his wife, Leslie, have five children: Ariel, Yasmyn, Artis Jr., Treyvon, and a newborn daughter, Faith.
