The Mineral Area College Board of Trustees on June 11 approved the hiring of Luke Strege to the coaching position of the men’s basketball program. The position was vacated this summer when Corey Tate joined MU’s basketball program as assistant coach.
Strege will be the fourth coach in the history of the program. He comes to the Park Hills, Mo., community college having finished his fifth season as the assistant men’s basketball coach and recruiting coordinator at Eastern Kentucky University. While at Eastern Kentucky, Strege helped guide the Colonels to an Ohio Valley Conference Championship in 2014 and a berth to the NCAA National Tournament. Eastern Kentucky’s 49 wins from 2012-2014 are the most during any two-year period in program history.
Before arriving at Eastern, Strege served six years on the staff at Quincy University in Quincy, Ill. In 2009-2010, Strege helped the Hawks finish 23-9 overall while climbing to as high as #10 in the Division II national polls. Quincy earned a spot in the 2010 NCAA Division II Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. In 2007-2008, Strege was promoted to Quincy’s associate head coach. In Strege’s six seasons at Quincy, the Hawks posted six consecutive winning seasons and advanced to four NCAA Division II Tournaments.
Strege began his collegiate coaching career in 2000-2001 as a graduate assistant at the University of Georgia. He then spent two more years as a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky University (2001-2003). Before moving to Quincy, Strege served as an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Towson University in Baltimore in 2003-2004.
Mineral Area College Athletic Director Chad Mills said he and others are “thrilled” to have Strege on board. “Luke brings fifteen years of experience at the Division I and Division II level,” Mills said. “More than his ability to coach, we’re excited about the high character that Luke brings to MAC. He is a great family man and he will do an outstanding job of representing both the community and the college.”
Strege graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1999 with bachelor’s degree in marketing. He and his wife Christine, are proud parents of Mason, Griffin, and Jaxon.
