USC Upstate men’s basketball head coach Eddie Payne announced Tuesday that Kyle Perry has been promoted to Associate Head Coach.
Perry, who will be entering his sixth season at Upstate, has played an instrumental role in the recent success of the Spartans men’s basketball team, helping turnaround a program transitioning into Division I in 2007 into a program consistently battling for Atlantic Sun Conference championships on a yearly basis.
"Coach Perry has demonstrated proficiency and excellence in so many difference phases of our program, and I thought it was appropriate to make him Associate Head Coach," Payne said. "He has functioned in that role already, and I think the title speaks to what he does for our program and how he has impacted our program."
Perry immediately put his stamp on the program when he put together one of the strongest recruiting classes in the country after signing Torrey Craig and Babatunde Olumuyiwa prior to the 2010-11 season. Craig would go on to become one of the greatest players in Atlantic Sun history, claiming A-Sun Freshman of the Year honors in 2011 and A-Sun Player of the Year honors in 2012. Olumuyiwa proved to be one of the top shot blockers in both Upstate and A-Sun history on his way to setting a school record with nine blocks against South Carolina in 2010.
His recruiting success continued the following year when Perry landed Knoxville, Tenn., sharp-shooter Ty Greene from Bearden High School. Greene became Upstate’s second straight A-Sun Freshman of the Year when he took home the award in 2012 after a season that saw him score 11.4 points to go along with a team-high 80 assists.
That core group of recruits, along with former post players Ricardo Glenn and Jodd Maxey, helped Upstate amass 56 wins over the last three seasons, which included two trips to the A-Sun Tournament semifinals and two postseason appearances. Upstate also turned heads nationally last season when the Spartans picked up wins at Virginia Tech and South Carolina to secure wins against the ACC and SEC for the first time in school history.
"I am very appreciative of Coach Payne for having the confidence in me to give me this title," Perry said. "Coach Payne has taught me a great deal about coaching basketball as well as how to run a program, and I look forward to learning even more in the coming years."
Perry’s knack for recruiting can be traced all the way back to 2006 when he served as director of basketball operations at College of Charleston under legendary coach Bobby Cremins. Perry successfully recruited Andrew Goudelock to College of Charleston and watched him finish his career as the program’s career leader in points and three-pointers made before being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Perry also served as an assistant coach at South Carolina State from 2007-09 before arriving at Upstate.
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