BCSP Notes . . .
Moton the new man at NC Central
North Carolina Central University announced alumnus LeVelle Moton as the 17th men's basketball head coach in school history during a press conference last week in the William Jones Building on the NCCU campus.
A former standout shooting guard for the
NCCU Eagles from 1992-96, Moton returned to his
alma mater as assistant men's basketball coach in
July 2007 under Henry Dickerson, serving in that
capacity for the past two seasons as NCCU continues
its reclassification as an NCAA Division I program.
Moton's appointment is a five-year term beginning April 1, with an annual salary of $100,000.
Moton joined the NCCU staff after serving as head boys basketball coach at Sanderson High School in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C. During his three-year tenure (2004-07) at Sanderson, Moton led the Spartans to an overall record of 59-25, while winning back-to-back Cap-7 tournament championships in 2006 and 2007.
A 1996 graduate of NCCU with a bachelor's degree in recreation administration, Moton became the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1,714 points during his historic hardwood career as an Eagle from 1992-96, earning the nickname "Poetry 'n Moton." He also played professionally in Indonesia and Israel.
During his junior and senior seasons, Moton was voted All-CIAA First Team, NCAA Division II South Atlantic All-Region First Team and NCAA Division II All-America Honorable Mention. He was named the 1996 CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) Men's Basketball Player of the Year and was inducted into the NCCU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.
Among NCCU's all-time career leaders, Moton ranks first in 3-point field goals (213 of 529), third in scoring (1,714 points), fourth in free throws (363 of 467), fifth in assists (278), eighth in field goals (569 of 1,159), 10th in scoring (16.6 points per game), and 11th in steals (110).
As a junior (1994-95), he topped the CIAA and was No. 16 in the NCAA Division II in scoring with an average of 23.5 points per game. His 87 three-point field goals made that year remains the school's single-season record. Moton played on three CIAA Southern Division Championship teams and made two trips to the NCAA playoffs, including an NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional Championship title in 1993.
Tennessee State tabs John Cooper for men's basketball post
With the approval of President Melvin N. Johnson, Tennessee State has named John A. Cooper as head coach for Tigers men's basketball program.
Cooper comes to Tennessee State from
Auburn University where he served as associate head
men's basketball coach with Jeff Lebo. Cooper has
over fifteen years of basketball coaching experience
having coached at Oregon, South Carolina and
Fayetteville State. This will be Cooper's first post as a head coach.
Cooper is a native of Kansas City, Missouri and played collegiately at Wichita State under Eddie Fogler, where he led the Shockers in scoring and rebounding during both his junior and senior seasons. He was a team captain his final two seasons and a Rhodes Scholar candidate in his senior year.
"We had an outstanding group of candidates from which to choose," said Johnson. "John Cooper was very impressive in the final interview process. He was ultra-prepared, knew where TSU basketball was, understood where we wanted to go and had a plan to get us there."
TSU Athletic Director, Teresa Phillips affirms Cooper's ability.
"John Cooper's vision for the TSU program is outstanding. His background shows that he has learned from great coaches and that he will be a great mentor and steward of young student-athletes," said Phillips.
Cooper spent five years at Auburn (2004-2009) and played a vital role in the revitalization of the Auburn basketball program, as the Tigers recorded their first winning season in four years (2003). This season, Auburn posted a 24-12 record, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT Tournament.
Prior to his arrival at Auburn, Cooper spent two seasons at Oregon where he helped the Ducks to a 41-23 mark. Oregon went 23-10 with an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2002-03 and had an 18-13 record in 2003-04, losing in the NIT semifinals. He spent six years as an assistant at South Carolina under his former college coach Eddie Fogler, from 1995-2001 helping lead the Gamecocks to the SEC Championship with a 24-8 record in 1996-97.
Prior to South Carolina, Cooper spent two seasons as an assistant to now Grambling State head coach Rick Duckett at Division II Fayetteville (NC) State in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, where the Broncos went 18-10 in 1993-94 and 15-10 in 1994-95.
ECSU'S Hilliard shines at Div II All-Star Game
All-American forward and back-to-back CIAA Player of the Year Anthony Hilliard of Elizabeth City State earned Most Outstanding Player honors for the East All-Stars at the N.A.B.C. Division II All-Star game held at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Friday night.
Hilliard, who led the CIAA in both scoring (23.2 ppg.) and
rebounding (11.1 rpg.), started the game for the East, and finished the night with the game's only
double-double posting game highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds.
He also added 4 assists and a steal in 20 minutes of action.
The East lost to the West 138-117.
For most of the night he guarded the top scorer in Division II Lavontay Fenderson, holding him to 12 points on 5-15 shooting. Fenderson averaged 26.3 points per game this past season for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
Earlier this week Hilliard was named to the Daktronics All-American Third Team
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