Jay Spoonhour has announced the hiring of Marc Stricker as an assistant coach on his staff as the Eastern Illinois head men’s basketball coach begins his second season with the Panthers.

Stricker comes to EIU following two seasons at Maryville University in St. Louis where he helped the school post 23 wins last season as they finished second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division. The program qualified for the GLVC Tournament both seasons. Last year Maryville beat No. 4 ranked Bellarmine for the school’s first win over a nationally ranked opponent. They also received votes in the NABC Division II poll for the first time in school history.

Prior to his time at Maryville Stricker served one season as the head coach of the St. Louis Pioneers, a member of the ABA professional league. He coached the team to a 13-3 record with eight straight wins to close out the season. His team finished the season ranked No. 16 in the ABA Power Rankings poll and qualified for the ABA playoffs.

“Marc is a great young basketball coach who has a tremendous love for coaching the game,” said Spoonhour. “He is a coach that has played and coached at all levels in the Midwest and really has a feel for basketball in this part of the country.”

Stricker played basketball at UMKC earning Academic All-Conference. Following his playing days he joined the staff at UMKC for his first coaching job helping the program advance to the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament semifinals in three of his four seasons. He helped mentor four athletes that are currently in the career top ten in scoring at UMKC and three athletes that are currently in the career top ten for rebounding. In his first season with the Kangaroos the program earned a spot in the Mid-Major Top 25.

In 2005 Stricker became the head coach of the AAU Gateway Basketball Club in St. Louis. During six years as the head coach he posted a 178-56 record winning the Adidas All-American Tournament four times. His program also made two final four appearances at the Gym Rats Invitational. Stricker developed 26 players from the program that played basketball at four-year institutions including 13 at the NCAA Division I level.

Stricker earned both his bachelors (2002) and master’s (2005) degrees from UMKC. He and his wife Christine have two children, Savannah and Kelley.

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