I’ve been talking about this one for a few days. It’s now official – Jared Phay is the new head coach at the College of Southern Idaho.

The College of Southern Idaho Athletic Department is pleased to announce the hiring of Jared Phay as the new men’s basketball head coach.

Phay joins the Golden Eagles after 10 years as the North Idaho College head coach.

"We have watched him grow. We have watched his program through the years and Jared does things the right way." said CSI Athletic Director Joel Bate "We are excited to see what he can accomplish here at CSI and welcome him into our Golden Eagle family."

During his time with the Cardinals, he was named Region 18 Coach of the Year three times. He won Scenic West Athletic Conference Championships in 2006, 2009 and 2010. The last seven years, he has posted 20 wins or more and has 221 career wins at North Idaho.

In 2010-2011, Phay led the Cardinals to their first ever No. 1 national ranking in school history from Nov. 23, 2010 to Jan. 4, 2011.

Academics are very important to Phay. In 2011-2012, his Cardinal team was one of only 10 NJCAA basketball teams in the country to earn Academic All-American status.

"If you ever had a ‘I made it’ moment, this is it for me," Phay said at the press conference Wednesday. "If I ever win a national championship, that will be one too. There were a lot of great candidates and you chose me. I’m grateful for that."

Phay said it’s an honor to follow the incredible list of coaches that have coached at CSI before him.

"I have a tremendous amount of responsibility to everyone," Phay said. "My biggest responsibility will be to our future student athletes."

Phay assisted at North Idaho from 2003-2005 and prior to that he was an assistant coach at Motlow State CC for one season. Before that he had stints as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Idaho, head coach at Falls Christian Academy and assistant coach at Falls Christian Academy.

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