Rick Ray (basketball)

American basketball coach (born 1970)

Rick Ray

Current position
Title| Assistant coach
Team| Vanderbilt
Conference| Southeastern Conference
Biographical details
Born|  (1970-05-08) May 8, 1970 (age 55)
Compton, California, U.S.
Alma mater| Grand View
Playing career
?–1994| Grand View
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1996–1997| Omaha (graduate assistant)
1997–2004| Indiana State (assistant)
2004–2006| Northern Illinois (assistant)
2006–2010| Purdue (assistant)
2010–2012| Clemson (assistant)
2012–2015| Mississippi State
2015–2020| Southeast Missouri State
2020–2024| Colorado (assistant)
2024–present| Vanderbilt (assistant)
Head coaching record
Overall| 88–164

Rick Ray (born May 8, 1970) is an American college basketball coach who is an assistant coach at Vanderbilt University. He was formerly the head men's basketball coach at Mississippi State and Southeast Missouri State.[1]

## Biography

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Ray was born in Compton, California; however, his family moved to Kansas City, Kansas when Ray was 6 years old. He is an All-American Scholar Athlete basketball player who played at Grand View College, where he majored in Applied Mathematics and Secondary Education. After graduation, Ray worked as an actuary in Chicago, but soon realized that he wanted to be a basketball coach. He quit his actuary job and became a coach and teacher at a high school in Des Moines, Iowa.[2] After 1+1⁄2 years, he left to become a graduate assistant coach at Nebraska-Omaha. While at Nebraska-Omaha, he also earned a master's degree in Sports Administration. From there, Ray was an assistant coach at Indiana State, Northern Illinois, Purdue, and Clemson, before being hired by Mississippi State.[3]

Upon hiring Ray, Mississippi State Athletics Director Scott Stricklin said, “Rick fits the model of head coach we have sought to bring into our program over the last several years. He is bright, enthusiastic, disciplined and is a man of integrity. He has served with some of the top head and assistant coaches in college basketball and will bring a piece of all of them to our head coaching position.” [4]

On March 21, 2015 Ray was fired by Mississippi State.[5] He was subsequently hired by Southeast Missouri State. After finishing the 2019–20 season with a 7–24 record, Ray was let go by Southeast Missouri State.[6]

On July 20, 2020, Ray was hired by Colorado as an assistant coach. He helped lead the Buffaloes to two NCAA tournament bids in 2021 and 2024.[7] Ray left Colorado following the conclusion of the 2023–24 season to join the staff at Vanderbilt as an assistant coach.[8]

## Head coaching record

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Statistics overview  Season  | Team  | Overall  | Conference  | Standing  | Postseason

|
|
|
|
|

Mississippi State Bulldogs (Southeastern Conference) (2012–2015)
2012–13 | Mississippi State | 10–22 | 4–14 | T–12th |
2013–14 | Mississippi State | 14–19 | 3–15 | 14th |
2014–15 | Mississippi State | 13–19 | 6–12 | T–11th |
Mississippi State: | 37–60 (.381) | 13–41 (.241) |
Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (Ohio Valley Conference) (2015–2020)
2015–16 | Southeast Missouri State | 5–24 | 2–14 | 6th (West) |
2016–17 | Southeast Missouri State | 15–18 | 9–7 | 2nd (West) |
2017–18 | Southeast Missouri State | 14–17 | 8–10 | 7th |
2018–19 | Southeast Missouri State | 10–21 | 5–13 | 11th |
2019–20 | Southeast Missouri State | 7–24 | 3–15 | 12th |
Southeast Missouri State: | 51–104 (.329) | 27–59 (.314) |
Total: | 88–164 (.349) |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Parrish, Gary. "SEMO hires Rick Ray". CBS Sports. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
2. ^ "Bulldogs new coach wants things done right". Retrieved April 8, 2012.
3. ^ "Rick Ray bio at Clemson".
4. ^ "Stricklin finds his man as MSU hires Ray". Retrieved April 1, 2012.
5. ^ "Mississippi State fires basketball coach Ray". March 21, 2015.
6. ^ Ruch, Amber (March 3, 2020). "Rick Ray relieved of duties as SEMO head men's basketball coach". KFVS. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
7. ^ "Rick Ray". University of Colorado Athletics. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
8. ^ "Ray, Joyner Named Assistant Coaches". Vanderbilt University Athletics. April 18, 2024.

## External links

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* Southeast Missouri State profile

* v
* t
* e

Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball head coaches

* T. H. Werner (1908–1909)
* No team (1909–1910)
* W. D. Chadwick (1910–1911)
* Earl C. Hayes (1911–1924)
* K. P. Gatchell (1924–1925)
* Bernie Bierman (1925–1927)
* Ray G. Dauber (1927–1933)
* Edwin Hale (1933–1935)
* Frank Carideo (1935–1939)
* Stanfield Hitt (1939–1943)
* No team (1943–1944)
* Stanfield Hitt (1944–1947)
* Paul Gregory (1947–1955)
* Babe McCarthy (1955–1965)
* Joe Dan Gold (1965–1970)
* Kermit Davis (1970–1977)
* Ron Greene (1977–1978)
* Jim Hatfield (1978–1981)
* Bob Boyd (1981–1986)
* Richard Williams (1986–1998)
* Rick Stansbury (1998–2012)
* Rick Ray (2012–2015)
* Ben Howland (2015–2022)
* Chris Jans (2022– )

* v
* t
* e

Southeast Missouri State Redhawks men's basketball head coaches

* No coach (1903–1907)
* Clyde Elder (1906–1907)
* Eugene Wells (1907–1908)
* Ferdinand Courleux (1908–1909)
* Henry Schulte (1909–1912)
* W. F. Cobb (1912–1915)
* Ferdinand Courleux (1915–1928)
* Jerry Lewis (1928–1929)
* Ferdinand Courleux (1929–1930)
* George Flamank (1930–1932)
* Abe Stuber (1932–1935)
* Charles Harris (1935–1943)
* Abe Stuber (1943–1946)
* Joe McDonald (1946–1949)
* John Adams (1949–1952)
* Ralph Pink (1952–1958)
* Charlie Parsley (1958–1970)
* Bob Cradic (1970–1975)
* Carroll Williams (1975–1981)
* Ron Shumate (1981–1997)
* Gary Garner (1997–2006)
* Scott Edgar (2006–2008)
* Zac Roman # (2008–2009)
* Dickey Nutt (2009–2015)
* Rick Ray (2015–2020)
* Brad Korn (2020– )

# denotes interim head coach
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