Troy University assistant men’s basketball coach Billy Begley has been named the basketball head coach at East Mississippi Community College, EMCC announced Thursday.
Begley will return to EMCC after spending two years with the Trojans. During his tenure as an assistant coach, Begley worked primarily with the guards, including Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year Wesley Person.
“I’m really proud of Billy and excited for him as he returns to East Mississippi as their new head coach,” Troy head coach Phil Cunningham said. “He played a huge part in building that program to one of national relevance as Coach White’s assistant, and now he has a chance to make an even greater impact as the head coach. Billy is a high-energy young man who excels with the Xs and Os as well as the recruiting side of coaching basketball.
“He also comes from a terrific family, and he totally gets the coach’s role of building character and pushing the players to succeed in the classroom. I really appreciate how hard he worked the last two years to lay the foundation of what we are trying to build with our basketball program at Troy, and we will definitely be pulling for him at EMCC!”
Prior to his time at Troy, Begley worked for three seasons at EMCC as an assistant coach. He helped the Lions to a 63-11 overall record in his three seasons, including a 33-3 mark in conference play. During Begley’s three seasons the Lions produced five NJCAA All-America selections and had 10 players sign Division I scholarships.
Begley was a three-time team captain at Mississippi State and spent five seasons on the Bulldogs’ roster from 2003 to 2008. During that time, Mississippi State won two SEC West Division titles, one overall SEC Regular Season Championship, made three trips to the NCAA Tournament Second Round and one trip to the NIT Semifinals.
Begley was a four-time Academic All-SEC selection and was also a member of the 2007-08 SEC Good Works Team. He earned the Craig Newsome Award (highest team GPA) twice.
http://www.troytrojans.com/news/2015/6/4/MBB_0604154654.aspx
