-Chattanooga Mocs new head basketball coach Will Wade is taking little time putting his staff together. His first move was retaining Casey Long as an assistant. His next one is adding a former head coach to the Mocs bench. Wes Long joins Wade from a successful five-year run as head coach at Queens University of Charlotte (N.C.). Long was 75-66 for his career on the bench with a 55-30 mark over the last three seasons.

“I am very excited to announce Wes is joining our family,” Wade stated. “He did a tremendous job leading the program at Queens, and we have kept in close contact over the years. I know we share a vision about the all-around student-athlete experience – academically, athletically and socially. He is an outstanding addition.”

The Royals won back-to-back regular season Conference Carolinas titles in 2011 and 2012. The 2011 team became the first from Queens to capture a regular-season crown in eight seasons leading to league coach of the year honors. That team also posted a 13-game winning streak that season en route to the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Southeast Region Tourney.

Long signed and mentored the Royals’ top two scorers all-time in Reggie Hopkins (1,810 points) and Dan Bailey (1,780), as well as No. 6 on the list, Antonio Stabler (1,390). His squads boasted three NABC All-Region performers, four first team all-league picks and two league freshmen of the year.

Equally important to Long is the academic record his program achieved. His student-athletes had five of the seven highest grade point averages in program history during his tenure.

His entire post-graduate coaching career has been at Queens. He started out as an assistant in 2004-05 to Brian Good. He then ascended into the head coaching position in 2008. His move to Charlotte came after graduation from Clemson in May 2004.

Long played and coached as an undergraduate with the Tigers. He was a walk-on for the 2000-01 season before shifting to a student assistant role for his final three seasons. He played for the Clemson squad that captured a 75-65 win over No. 1 North Carolina in 2001.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in Business Management in May 2004 at Clemson. That was followed with a Master’s in Business Administration in May 2007 at Queens. He is a native of Mauldin, S.C.

Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.