Rick Ray, MA

Rick Ray (Class of 1988), MA, Southeast Missouri State Head Basketball Coach

Rick Ray is in his third year as Southeast Missouri’s head coach.

Rick Ray, introduced as the 20th head coach in Southeast Missouri men’s basketball history on April 13, 2015, is the first African-American head coach in the 109-year history of the program.In his first summer on the job, Ray challenged his players to excel academically and they did so by accumulating a 3.38 grade point average, the program’s highest in a summer term.Twelve of the 15 players enrolled in summer classes posted a 3.0 or higher GPA. To take it even further, Ray convinced other players to remain on campus and finish what they started. As a result, seven players graduated. Nino Johnson, Jarekious Bradley, Darrian Gray and J.J. Thompson, along with former players Corey Wilford, Waylon Jones and Dainmon Gonner all earned their bachelor degrees.

Prior to Southeast, Ray spent three seasons as head coach at Mississippi State. He led the Bulldogs to a 2-2 mark in the SEC Tournament, including an upset win against VanderbiltIn 2013, he was the recipient of Grand View’s Distinguished Alumni Award

Ray spent two seasons at Clemson, where he was associate head coach to Brad Brownell. Ray also spent four successful years on the staff of Matt Painter at Purdue. He began his Division I coaching career at Indiana State, serving seven seasons.Ray was an assistant coach from 2006-10 under Painter at Purdue, where the Boilermakers won 103 games during his first four years on staff, including 15 victories over Top 25 competition. During his tenure, Purdue advanced to the NCAA Tournament each season and made the Sweet 16 his last two years there.